you can ring my bell rock?

Yesterday we took everyone to Ringing Rocks State Park Even though I've lived so close all my life, I've never been there. So with hammers in hand off we went... I had to convince DS1 that it would be fun. Once we were there he was springing over the rocks like a sure footed mountain goat. We found rocks that made harmony by themselves depending on where they were struck. Plenty of rocks that made just a thud. It's a strange and wonderful place. As DS 2 was trekking among the rocks, exploring he found this Eastern Milk Snake. I couldn't identify it on the spot, but looked it up as soon as we got home. That experience curtailed his jubilance at exploring a bit. He decided to sit with the apos and hit rocks nearby.
I walked down to the bottom of the field to where it expandes left and right... trying to make some historical sense of it all. I did see one blue jay right at the lower edge of the field but nothing besides the snake, some spiders, a few moths and butterflies and a dragonfly or two the entire 2+ hours we spent there.

If you're nearby, make a trip. It's worth it. If you forget a hammer pick up a small rock and use that. We were able to play a couple of tunes with some careful boulder choice.
And don't make our mistake... continue down the trail to check out the waterfall. That's for our next visit, I guess.

the jellicle moon was shining bright

and jellicles came to the jellicle ball.
We all went to see CATS last night at the State Theatre in Easton. All 5 of us... not an inexpensive adventure, but worth it. The boys were entranced. Although DS2 said that there were moments he didn't like, but his favorite was McCavity. And admittedly, the whole meaning was well over the kids heads, but I'm determined more than ever to take them to as many live performances of quality as possible.

Last week DD and I went to see ASOs condensed version of Carmen. DH directed the chorus so the only cost for us was the babysitter for the boys. She loved it.

After looking at the page for the company that put on the show I noticed that they were at the Flynn theatre on Valentine's Day. I had a friend from HS that used to do stage managing at the Flynn (among other art venues in CT and VT) who just passed away last month. As I was at the show last night I imagined him running it, without knowing that were he still alive he WOULD have run it just a week before. I believe he's running some bigger shows right now. I also felt this presence of a former colleague of mine giving me props for taking the kids to the theater. She was quite a classy lady whose son is a dancer on Broadway. So Mike and Rho... thanks for the visits last night. I know you were smiling at me.

Day off today and we had a little bit of snow... and I have a headache for the I can't tell you how many day in a row... I remember mom having headaches a lot... now I'm feeling your pain....

Happy Labor Day

7 days of classes in and I'm still alive... working hard on listening to the music choices of my students' listening logs....so I'm laboring in a way on Labor Day.

Meet the Teacher Thursday night.... I got to speak about band and chorus... and plug my webpage for my students.

Friday I had off... we took the kids out of school early and went to Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos... It was fun... we had a kid cabin suite. I don't know who liked it more DH or the kids!

Sunday was a picnic at friends.

I've worked on the möbius purse and have now finished the strap... that's a lot of stitches!

Today was just working on school stuff... quiet, boring but oh so necessary.

Tmrw is Mom's 90th birthday.... I'll give her a shout out now HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM... but I'll try ot post a picture of her tmrw.

happy easter

The bunny was a very busy girl today. Went shopping for baskets... not candy, but some last minute goodies, like bike helmets a movie, etc. Stopped at the thrift shop to donate a large bag and went in and came out with a large bag... hahaha cashmere sweaters, wool sweaters to felt for a Christmas gift project, a pizza stone, pants for DS2, a movie for DS1 and a silk tie.

I wanted to try my hand at literally tie dyeing eggs... It wasn't too successful... I'm not giving up though!

Speaking of dyeing... this week I dyed some handspun in colors that remind me of tulips...The green is the leaves and stems and well the rest is the flower itself.

My SIL was admitted to the hospital today with double pneumonia. We usually have Easter at their house, but I knew she wasn't feeling well so had thought we'd stay home and I'd do the dinner thing here for the family. My other SIL is sick as well, so I wanted to make sure that mom had someone to celebrate with. We're all heading down very early in the AM and bringing her to church with us then going out for lunch. Fortunately, I was able to get reservations for us at a favorite Italian restaurant between church and her 'village' and not far from the hospital that my SIL is in. So I convinced my brother and nephew to join us, since they still need to eat! DS1 will be just as happy not to see his dog cousin!

The hoodie is almost finished.. making the hood now... I think I realized a kind of major error, but it looks ok... so I'll let it slide. IF I ever make this pattern again, I'll be using the yarn it calls for... just didn't have it in boy colors and I want to knit from stash this year only (if at all possible)

At any rate, enjoy your holiday... It's my favorite one of all (actually my favorite church service was Friday... something about that tenebrae service really hits me.)

and so it goes

Here are some shots of the wrap and it's progress. I'm on the 13th repeat of the cable. The pattern calls for 16 repeats.. but I think I'll need a couple more. It's going ok now that I've just about got the pattern memorized. DD and her girl scout troop went to see the Lehigh women's bball team play Saturday. Lehigh won and she had a blast! I think she wants to go more often.











We still have a pile of Girl Scout cookies to sell :-\....DS1 went to the movies with one of his school pals. So that left the baby home alone with mom and dad, and boy did he LOVE that!







OK.. I leave you with one last reversible cable picture.. I need to get back to knitting. BTW I took these with my iPhone, don't they rock?

baby, it's cold outside

brrrrrrrrrr........

This morning we left for the Liberty Science Center. We were there for about 4 hours or so and could have stayed longer... very nice place with lots to see. Gift shop - disappointing... the kids loved it. I'm sure we'll go again, hopefully on a less crowded day. I didn't see everything and we didn't go to any of the shows or movies (IMax, 3D) so it'll be nice to visit when everyone and their brother isn't there because they're looking for something to do indoors during a very cold december vacation. BTW... their falafal wrap is great and the hummus..... delightful!

I was working on a lizard ridge square on the way there and dropped a needle in the car. Couldn't find it to save my soul... found it when we got home... it was in the pocket on the door and I could have sworn that I looked there. So instead i did a few rows on my 2nd sock. Started the leg pattern and when I got home, I looked at the first.. I'll be frogging back the pattern rows to do more ribbing....

stay warm, put on a sweater! I did!

a knitting christmas

So my family secret pal gave me Barbara Walker's 2nd treasury of knitting book, a gift certificate to a LYS in her haunts and a beautiful hand quilted table runner. My santa at home gave me 3 troll beads for my bracelet a shee tape measure and sheep scissor guard, needle sizers (that's what I asked for), a beautiful wood shawl pin and cat bordhi alphabet stitch markers... :-D

We had a lovely visit with the fam yesterday, beautiful church service... home by 3 AM in bed by 4:30 AM kids had us up at 7 AM.

Today friends and their kids came for dinner... they brought lots to eat and we shared great company, food and drink for many hours... always such a pleasure... oh what fun! really I love it!

lucky lucky girl I am..

the most priceless part of the day was DS1 telling me that he was so happy and it was the best Christmas ever. *that* makes it all worthwhile!

another cowl

Pattern: Chickadee cowl by Kristen Kapur
Yarn: Dazzle by Tahki
Color: 002 tan and purple varigated
Needle: US10

Modifications: I didn't stop at the suggested 4 inches... I kept going until the skein was almost gone... I could have gone one more round, but.... I didn't want to run out during binding off. so..........

Off to DD's chorus concert. She's playing piano in the beginning as well. At least I get to see this one.

what a great day!

a picture of the Christmas tree. The 'popcorn' is made from packing peanuts.. but it looks pretty good I think. One of my chorus moms came in to help decorate it with me. I would have NEVER finished.. and we worked really well together... and the PE teacher kept her 4 YO busy... Everything save a few balls on the tree is from freecycle... the tree included... i heart freecycle!

The kids did such a nice job. I'm so proud of them. Santa came to visit as did the local TV station! Good PR for the music program. AND I had some free time late in the afternoon (don't ask me how that happened) so I got to work on my cowl. Santa even came to our program... and handed out candy canes. We had fun!

The ILs have landed.... and they're sleeping in my attic.... MIL brought me MUCHO lana crudo merino for spinning :D and my SIL painted a coffee mug for me that I absolutely LOVE! She also sent 3 very beautiful wooden shawl pics... how lucky am I. And for the DH and I she sent one of her colorized drawings that she made while she was here this time last year... I really miss her.

OK... hopefully tmrw I'll have another cowl to show you!

snow!

This picture is actually from Saturday. This morning when I awoke, the ground was white.

wowee blogger looks different when uploading now :-)
I likey!

DD had to get her foot checked out today so I took a family sick day. It was a late start for me and it turned out that my kids had no school since they were scheduled for a half day. Hope my sub did OK.

At any rate... on the way home from the doctor I convinced the kids we should stop at the OP shop since it was buy one get 2 free of the color tag. They picked out books... lots of them. I got some sweaters.... some to frog and some to felt... 2 pair of pants for me, a marble cheese board/slicer, some gifts for some folks, a travel game for the kids and this cool pie thing... 2 pans, a crust saver and then the red thing is plastic that you press in the top crust to make apple shaped vents in while it bakes.

But the find of the day (OK the year for me) was this Barbara Walkers The Craft of Lace Knitting book... for 1.91 It's in perfect shape and the cheapest one used at amazon is $35.50.... Happy Dance Time!

the best family

I am so fortunate. Yesterday we went to the birthday party of our friends son... they are friends but I feel more like they are my siblings than merely someone I choose to spend time with. I leave part of my heart with them and they care for it as if it's their own.

Today, my cousins wife and son-in-law came with the 2 first cousin twice removed daughters, (sorry we missed you sarah and violet) to catch the vespers concert at Moravian where DH works. The girls stayed here and played with my kids... (I love having other kids over... takes so much of the heat off of me) and the we supped together on eggplant lasagna, garlic bread, salad and brownies.... sharing great conversation and company. You would think that we saw them regularly (we don't trust me... Cate lives in Nevada) because we don't skip a beat and I really do love her so much!

I feel very very lucky today.... indeed!

curse you, styrofoam packing peanuts

so I won this prize from Women's Day online. They have these giveaways every month (you should go register to win) and sometimes I remember to register... most times I forget. Anyway, today we're sitting down to dinner and I see a HUGE box at the front gate. So I asked DH if he was expecting something, "no" I responded "well I didn't order anything." Then I thought maybe it was a box from my SIL's mother for the kids she's often thinking of them and sending really cool things. So without thinking, I sent DS1 out to fetch the box. As he was bringing it in, it started leaking packing peanuts..... argh. I opened the box, took out my prize and the kids attacked the packing peanuts..... An hour and a half later I am just about packing peanut free..... they mushed them all over the kitchen, body surfing in the 'snow'

The humorous thing was when we were finally cleaning them up, we couldn't grab them. They kept floating in the air. I had to vaccuum the kids and myself as well. What a sight.

After all the mess was cleaned and the grocery shopping finished and put away, I got to use my surprise gift. I'm sure the suspense is killing all of you dear readers, the prize is (drum roll please.........)

a bionaire steam mop

whodathunk that I'd win something??? Actually this is my 3rd time for winning an online prize... so I'm feeling very very fortunate.

Thanks Women's Day you made this woman's day!

what season?

the end for baseball
technically fall
feels like winter

Yesterday it snowed all day while I was at work. Here at home it was raining with some snow mixed in. BRRRRRRRRRR
Perfect for knitting.
DD's girl scout troop had a field trip to theLehigh Valley Amateur Astronomer's Society to see their equipment and have a planetarium show. As much as I want to see all those constellations, I just don't get it. I must have NO imagination.
I'm exhausted... don't ask me why cuz I have no clue. But all I want to do is sleep
I've knit 3 cowls this week.


Pattern: Birthday Cowl by Nova Seals
Yarn: Moda Dea Silk 'n Wool Blend
Color: plum
Needle: US 8 / 5.0 mm
I tried to start this 3 times last year and put it away... this time it flew off the needles


Pattern: Holland Cow by Jenny Raymond and Chris Church
Yarn: Paton's Shetland Chunky Tweed
Color: Deep Red
Needle: US 10



Pattern: Cherry Garcia by Adrian Bizilla
Yarn: Paton's Shetland Chunky Tweed
Color: Biscuit
Needle: US11


The above are both free ravelry downloads. If you don't belong to ravelry, you should it's free and AWESOME!

I have another in mind. And I've been working on a reverse log cabin blanket during bus duty from acrylic stash that was donated to the cause this summer. This will go to Linus project. I started it thinking I'd make a blanket from long strips instead of 'squares' but then found a ton of the same yarn as well as coordinating yarns so I used one skein for a side... and then started the large square... kind of making it up as I go. Should be interesting......

I've been spinning chiengora... from a friend's dog... .it's so soft... unbelievable....

oh and GO PHILS!

last day

for teachers today. HOORAY!!

there was a nice luncheon at the blue ridge country club that included fresh fruit, cheese, cheese tortellini with pesto sauce, swedish meat balls, fried cheese ravioli, mozzerella sticks, bruschetta, wrap sandwiches and salad with brownies and cookies for desert. Beer, wine, soda and coffee were flowing freely. All this for $20 and you got to leave at 2 instead of 3!

I had 2 very dear friends that retired.... there were 10 retirees being honored. My friend Sam gave a great speech though... humorous as always. Nice afternoon.

Tonight DD flew up from brownies to juniors. She crossed the bridge... she was so excited all week. And we have our first project to do as Juniors. It will be one of our weekly craft projects that I'm planning for the summer. Keep your eyes posted. Every week will feature a new project!

Same girl has a sleepover at a friends tmrw.. I think her social life is better than mine...(well that wouldn't be too hard to do anyway)

I need to get more yarn for the blanket tmrw. I thought I had bought about 20 skeins, but I could have been wrong. So I'm on the last 2 with many more squares to knit. I figure I'll need one skein to sew them all up and 2 or 3 at least for the i-cord trim. I'm getting about 2 squares of stockinette from one skein.... and sometimes 2 with the cables... so I'll need 3 more for the cables and about 9 more for the stockinette... that should do it with the leftovers from each skein... i'll do russian joins on the yarn in the attached i-cord... it'll work out.

tmrw ds2 has his last day of day care.... then he'll be sleep deprived all summer cuz I'll be fit to be tied b4 I give him a nap.

see u tmrw.

some saturday

we got up (OK... 3 of us slept in the living room last night) got ready for gymnastics... DS2's class went to lunch and then on to the DaVinci center for brain awareness week!

After that we stopped at Salvation Army and I picked up 8 sweaters... 7 to frog and the last to felt at least the front and perhaps frog the sleeves and back.

I'm frogging the aran sweater. It's been a real pain to undo the neckband from the body. But I have the side with the buttonholes about frogged. This sweater is really beautifully knit.. a shame to frog, but the yanr will be gorgeous when its washed and dyed. and I love the buttons...

I finished another square for the lizard ridge and am on square #3 for the Way afghan. Also knitted some more rectangles for the blankies for Linus Project. I've done 2 in chenille so that there is a soft cuddly corner to love on the blanket.

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of my dad's death. I think of him every day. He's probably cursing about the whole bail out issue and especially AIG....

happy crafting!

technically

for me it's still Sunday since I haven't hit the bed yet. DH and I sang a Vivaldi concert today at a Cathedral in town. There were 5 of us soloists. It was really fun. I enjoyed it. Wish I had had more to sing though. As I was sitting in the concert I was thinking of all the pictures to put on the blog, but sorry none for today. Hopefully I'll get some on tmrw. I was also admiring my new bracelet and it dawned on me that the bracelet part is much akin to a knitted i-cord... and the charms slide over the i-cord. Promise that I'll post pictures tmrw.

A very old dear friend found me on facebook today. I was pleasantly surprised. Haven't talked/seen him in more than 30 years. I'm sure we wouldn't recognize each other.

I frogged a bit more tonight and finished another lizard ridge square. So that means I've only hit about 9 balls of yarn so far this year... I really better get moving if I'm ever going to make 200. I keep harvesting yarn from sweaters and making more stash instead of knitting it and making it disappear.

This week I go to DS's school to demonstrate spinning. Tmrw I must make some rolags and prepare for that lesson... 2 classes of 50 1st graders. What excitement! It makes for a short work week for me though which is always good. Work Tuesday and Wednesday, off Thursday and work Friday.. can't complain at all :-D

OK.. I think I'm going to bed now... DS2 already came looking for me. So I need to put him back in his bed and crawl into my own!

my kind of ad

from Melbourne AU
It's so cute and fresh.... of course, I'm not looking for love, just love the yarn! I wonder how many meters are in those balls??

All 3 kids stayed home with DH today. The older 2 had off from school. I went in and by lunch was feeling miserable. Came home and slept. Now I have to get ready for DDs party tmrw. Cupcakes and house disinfectant.. don't know which to start first LOL.

HOpefully tmrw night I'll have pictures of the party to post. We're doing LOTS of crafty things... (of course ;-) )

it hits again!

Well now the bookend children are on their second round of the stomach bug. DH has been a real trooper. He's been home 3 out of 4 days this week playing nurse and comforter, AND he'll be home tomorrow with them as well since they have off from school, but I don't (snow day make-up). What my school should have done is closed anyway. The number of absences is astonishing! All those kids should stay home for a good long weekend and stop sharing germs.

Having said that, I made valentine candy tonight and mini heart brownies. Except my brownie missed her meeting. I used the Ghirardelli brownie mix and admit to cheating a bit.....but it was soooooooo worth it. You should try them. one word YUM!

I raveled the red/orange silk/cotton/wool sweater yesterday and started the Old Navy rust one today. It's really relaxing to do. I'll wait to wash them together. I have so maany plans, just not enough time....sigh

happy birthday DD

You are an incredible young lady. I can't believe how you've grown since that day 9 years ago when you came home from the hospital. Where did the time go?
Papi and I are so very proud of you. You're smart, thoughtful, helpful, beautiful, great sense of humor and fairness. We are so blessed to call you our daughter.

So even though there will be times when our decisions seem unfair, please remember that we're trying our best and we've never done this before. You're our first and only princess... and we love you more than you can know.

Happy birthday darlin' Hope the new year treats you stupendously!

love
mom and dad

everything is as it was

DS2 stayed home today with DH. He's fine now.
DH is taking SIL to the airport for her return trip home. Boy, am I gonna miss her.

Found this photo of the beautiful moon that was out on my bday but somehow I missed.



I'm ready to sleep