Just when I thought I had it solved....

You know when you think you have everything figured out and you start to relax?? Well, that is when things start to go haywire. Last night we went to see "Get Him to the Greek" at Bear's Tooth at 10:30. It was pretty funny, but I felt like it was a bit long... (W informed me it was only 1 hour and 40 mins, but to me it felt like 2... who knows...) anyway, we get home and found a nice surprise.

Snickers on the front porch.

WTF Snickers!?! I thought we had your escaping under control. Now I have to worry every time I leave the house again if my dog is going to be here when I get back. Not cool, Snickers, not cool. And, I'm glad he just was on the porch because it was DARK and wet outside. I have no idea when he escaped, or what he did while he was out.  I swear I need a security camera just to keep an eye on the two crazy animals I own. Maybe I should have gotten a baby monitor for them, not the baby. :P

So today the goal is to find the point of escape that Snickers used and barricade it up again... this feels like it is such an ongoing thing, it is crazy. I guess the most annoying part is that we had this solved for quite a while now, and I had not given any thought to leaving the pups outside.... then this....

Other things that have been happening... I knit a pair of felted booties for my stash. They are toddler size and pretty rockin'. Pictures to come later, as I am far too lazy for that right now. I have finished spinning two or three more yarns since the yarns I showed you. One was from a Toy Story SAL I was in, the other two were from my stash. All of them are awesome. I bought this book and want to knit just about everything in it... which is close to 60 projects. I already have decided which project I'm going to start with, a present for a friend who is graduating from Nursing school next week, and I'm knitting presents for my dad and brother out of it for Christmas. Seriously, this book is amazing....

I've actually started writing down my Christmas list. (Not of things I want, but what I want to make people...) I realized the other day that next week is my 28-week prenatal appointment... which means I am 12 weeks away from my due date. That may sound like a lot (hey, that's three months, you have forever) but think about how fast a week goes by.... And it might not be 12 whole weeks. This baby could come early or late... it's so unpredictable. So I'm trying to get as many things done in the next 8 weeks as I can. I start my birthing classes next week, and I think that will help calm me down as well. This is just all so new and I have no idea what to expect.... I'm hoping having some questions answered will help me feel more prepared.

Alright, off to walk the pups and head to work. It's still raining. Maybe August will bring good weather??

Weather

It has been incredibly rainy the past couple of days here in town. Which is kind of weird... normally when it "rains" here, it sprinkles all day, off and on, and is just gloomy outside. This has been full blown, rain pouring down for hours, wet, wet, WET, rain. The pups have had enough. Frito HATES the rain. He has a very hateful relationship with water that is not in his stainless steel water dish. He pouts all day about the weather, and it brings everyone down. Snickers isn't as anti-rain, but I think Frito's bad mood rubs off on him. I still walk them (because they still want to walk, and they actually don't mind walking in the rain, but won't go into the yard in the rain... my dogs are mental) and we all get wet, but usually have a good time. It was pouring this morning, but out we went. And this is what they looked like on the porch before I dried them off. Pretty happy, considering they were going to go pout the rest of the day!

Tour de Fleece is over. I didn't get as much spun as I would have liked, but I did get a fair amount accomplished. I think I spun 5 yarns total, and half of another one, which added up to 12 ounces of fiber, so that's not too bad. I'm hoping to finish the other half of the yarn I'm working on tonight while enjoying some Netflix instant and then maybe ply it tomorrow. I still have the goal of working pretty much only from my stash for a while... even treated myself to a little shawl book yesterday to help with the goal. I have a huge stash of sock yarn, and for some reason I have become OBSESSED with knitting shawls (and mittens... ) which is weird, since I don't foresee myself wearing them, but the last one I knit was just so FUN! And since I like to knit just to knit, not to have FO, this seems like an ok thing for me to do. I will just knit what I want and figure out what to do with it later. 

I have been speeding along on my embroidery project, which is a small winter pillow. I am very happy with how my stitching has been progressing. I even bought a thimble. I feel so serious when I have that on... like, now I'm going to get down to work. :) I think the pillow will become a present for someone... not sure who yet, but I don't think it will be staying in my house. Not that it isn't cute (because it is... very cute!) but, it is white, and white things don't fare so well with the pups and the new baby on the way. Plus, I already have pillows for the couch that are old quilt blocks I made, so I don't need more...and again, I do these things because I enjoy doing them, not because I necessarily want them when I am done...

Alright, off to go unload the dishwasher and do some more spinning. Here are some pictures (obviously taken a bit ago... proof it was sunny at some point this month! I think it was last week...) of the shed. Notice me spinning in the background. I think that is funny....

Mostly about yarn

I don't have a ton to blog about, so this will be a bit random, but oh well.

I made chocolate chip cookies from scratch yesterday. I also added peanut butter chips to them as well. They are seriously amazing. And super simple to make. Besides the cooking, it took me about 12 mins to get the dough made. I think these will be a staple in my little bakery case.

I knitted a handspun hat (not from my own handspun, but one that I received in a swap) and I'm working on matching little mittens. If I get my act together and stop eating cookies, they should be done today. I will take pictures later, as I am going to get some ribbon to weave in and out of the hat, which I think will make the cute factor skyrocket...

I have finished two more skeins of yarn for Tour de Fleece. They are both pretty awesome and once they are dried and measured, they will be ready for their pictures!

The shed is really starting to take shape. W has all the walls up (the frames of them anyway, he has to side them) and it is pretty spectacular. He will have three windows and a door to put in, and it has been amazing to watch him work. He is so proud of his shed (as he should be, it is quite the feat) and I am quite proud of him. He is amazing. I told him last night that I was very impressed with his building skills and that he is an awesome provider for our little family...

The other night we had a spinach chicken salad with spinach from MY GARDEN. And it tasted like spinach! It was pretty yummy. My broccoli is about ready to be cut, and the peas are growing as well. W is so impressed with my growing skills that he said he will probably build me a second bed next year and maybe even a small greenhouse on the side of his shed....

Alright, I think that is it. Have to go knit those little mittens...

Growing like a weed....

A lot of things are growing like weeds in my life right now... my baby, my garden, and my to do list.

Baby is doing well. Kicking like a crazy person. I don't understand why it has so much to do in there... sometimes I feel like it is practicing mixed martial arts or something. But, it is fun to feel it move so much.

My garden is out of control!!! I was so excited to find pea pods today!!! I think they will be ready in a few days. And my spinach will be ready for harvest tomorrow (only because I don't feel like doing it tonight). After watching a video online, I learned that the more I harvest it, the more it will grow... so I might be able to get quite a bit of spinach for a while!! Which will be great for salads and things.

I feel like I have a ton to do. Nothing really pressing. More like things I WANT to do. Like knitting, spinning, sewing things. I have recently started to start planning for the holiday season (mostly in my head. It will take a paper form soon) as I realized it is already the middle of JULY and with Baby coming, I might not have quite as much time in November as I normally do.... (people keep informing me that babies take up all of your time.... I keep hoping this is just a vicious rumor and that I will still have time to knit... doubt it though) Luckily, Baby will still be very young during the holiday season and probably won't notice if I don't shower it with presents... (which actually, I am trying to make sure everyone doesn't do, as I don't have room for a ton of things in my house. I would like to have a few meaningful things for my child rather than a lot of pointless plastic things....)

My knitting projects have been slow going. I haven't really touched W's socks... the baby blanket is almost ready to cast off and then do the finish work on. I started a small baby hat, which should have been a quick knit, but when I got to the decreases I realized I had made a mistake. Instead of just finishing it (I was about 4 rows away from the end) I decided to be a good knitter and re-knit it. Of course, the pattern was hard to take back and I wound up ripping all the way to the bottom of the hat. ACK. SO, I'm almost to the point I was again, and then I realized I made ANOTHER mistake! WTF?!? I was able to drop the stitch down and fix it (I had forgotten a YO) which made me feel like a very smart knitter. But, now the hat is taking a break. I can't believe this project isn't done. So, I think I'm going to need to knit a project that isn't on size 2 needles next. Maybe a nice chunky hat or something equally as rewarding.

W is informing me it is time to get in the car now, so I guess I better head out...

Public vs. Private Life

The past two days I have been home to watch the Today show, and I have decided they don't really have too much to report. It seems they spend almost an hour (spaced out over the whole show) discussing Mel Gibson's recent downfall. Not that what he is accused of is ok... I don't think it is ever ok to hit a woman (or most people out of anger... maybe self defense, but not just because you are angry) or call and make threats, BUT I feel a little bit bad for him. EVERYONE on the news is talking about this, playing the recordings of the phone calls, discussing it with "experts", such a public forum... There are a LOT of crazy people out there, and most of them get to be crazy in private, but not Mel. His craziness is headlining news.  And I realize that he chose to be a celebrity, but I just hate how everything that celebrities do is "news". I don't care. I guess other people do, or it wouldn't be reported....

I have a bit of a public life here, but I get to choose what I share. There aren't reporters knocking on my door or recording me on the phone. And, luckily, no one is taking pictures of me getting in and out of cars, because I'm sure that they would see more than they need to. :P

In other news, I made a chocolate cake from scratch last night. It isn't the best... a little dry, but still pretty yummy. The homemade icing really saves it from being a total disaster. I used agave instead of sugar, which may have made a difference. I might make it again using regular sugar and see if that changes the outcome. I do enjoy baking from scratch, I just always forget that I can do that.

My dogs impressed me yesterday. For about a year, I have walked them with gentle leader harnesses. These are harnesses that go over their nose and discourage pulling. The dogs HATE them, but it was the only way I could walk both of them with any type of control. I decided yesterday to give them another shot at "normal" walking. I hooked their leashes straight to their collars and headed out. I knew it would go really well or REALLY badly... They did SO well! I couldn't believe it. I think that they may have finally learned that if they pull, they have to wear their face harness... we will see if the lesson still sticks today. Alright, off to walk the crazy pups.

Pictures!

Just a quick post of some pictures I've been promising. First up, further proof I am growing a baby. 24 weeks pregnant....

Next up, my baby blanket I've been knitting... almost done!!

Hope everyone has a fun weekend!

24 weeks pregnant...

I had my 24 week appointment on Wednesday and everything is still going well. I will get some pictures of my belly soon... it is quite a bit bigger.  I gained 10 lbs last month... which was fine, because before that I had only gained 3 lbs total, so this was to be expected. I definitely look way more pregnant, which is interesting... There are some really awesome perks to being pregnant... not having your period, having a good excuse for the way I've always acted, being able to sit down at work and not look lazy, oh and growing a baby. :) Of course, there are some downfalls as well... I have a hard time getting dressed (not only because I have so few clothes that fit, but it is just hard... putting on socks is getting to be almost impossible), I'm always hungry, my hips are starting to hurt, it's getting harder for me to sleep, I feel like humpty dumpty... but I'm still pretty excited to meet Baby. I'm a bit concerned that Baby has heard too many stories about childhood obesity, as s/he is constantly doing baby aerobics in my belly....

In other news, I'm seriously getting close to the end of the baby blanket. I'm on the hood, and I'm pretty sure I will finish that today, which will leave the button band and the hood edging. Both of which require picking up a large amount of stitches, so I'm not really looking forward to them.... OH WELL! It will be done and I will be pretty excited about that.

Still spinning for Tour de Fleece. Not getting nearly as much done, as I'm having to work every day, but I have been meeting my goal of spinning every day...

I got my new iPhone this week!!! It is pretty amazing. I haven't had a problem with it at all... it is really fun to take pictures with the awesome camera and videotape the pups! I will have to try and figure out how to upload them on to here. And it is FAST! I had the 1st generation iPhone before this, so this was  a HUGE upgrade... I can't believe everyone else had been surfing the internet that quickly on their phones!

That's really all that's going on here. I work all weekend, so probably won't be much to report. W is making good progress on his shed.  The floor is done and he has two walls built.  Yesterday he picked up some free windows to install, so he will probably get a lot done this weekend if the weather cooperates. He works in the rain, but he works a bit slower....

Yarn Pictures

So here are some pictures of my handspun yarn that I have spun for Tour de Fleece!!

This is yarn from my "Granny Hair" batts from Desert Garden Farms. 4oz, 128 yds of aran weight yarn.

80% merino 20% Silk from Fiber Fancy 4 oz. I haven't measured this yet, as the twist still needs to be set. I LOVE this yarn.

100% Milk Fiber from Moonwood Farms. 2 oz... I forgot how much yarn is here. It is a nice single though, and it will be pretty knitted, I think...

This yarn was not spun during the tour, but finished up the last day of June so I would have all of my bobbins free for the tour. It is the yarn from my Murder Mystery SAL from Desert Garden Farms.

4 oz, 320 yds fingering/sport weight. I think this will become something for my mom for Christmas. 

Independence Day!

Happy 4th of July everyone! I love what people do for the 4th... spend time with family, BBQ, enjoy life. I wish people would think to do these things more often. 4th of July isn't a huge celebration for me... I'm much more apt to celebrate Alaska Day or a number of other weird holidays, just because that's how I am. I like to celebrate every day, not just ones that are important to the entire country. But, I am thankful to live in this country and have my freedom... and I thank all those who have served their country and helped make my continued freedom possible.

In other holiday news, I'm again disappointed in my town. Friday morning there was a gay pride float that was burned to the ground, and it is suspected arson. Really?!? Why would anyone do that? I don't understand... some people are so full of hate and misunderstanding. Even if you don't agree with the gay culture, it doesn't mean you have to destroy it. I don't agree with a lot of things other people do, but you don't see me burning anything to the ground... but I am pretty easy going. Our country was built with the idea that all people are created equal. And sure, we have had some bumps in the road, but we should still be working towards that goal. Every person is still a person even if you don't agree with what they do with their lives, and they should be treated EQUALLY.

Enough ranting. This weekend also kicked off Tour de Fleece, which is a spinning challenge to spin every day that the bikers ride in the Tour de France. And I have been kicking it off in a big way! I have been spinning up a storm! (Pictures later, as W has the camera in McCarthy) I have already finished two yarns and almost have half of a third done. Pretty excited about that. I know that spinning this much will be rare, as I do have to work, but I'm just hoping to spin a little bit each day. AND I'm spinning everything from my stash, as I am also participating in a July Stashdown challenge. I'm hoping to make a big dent in my fiber stash.... which will actually just mean more yarn in my stash, but still... I will knit it. :P

Oh man, Talkback is about ready to come on the news... this is always my favorite part of Sunday night. W and I love to watch Talkback together... one week someone called in and said that the reason BP isn't doing more to stop the oil leak is that the are just sucking the oil up out of the water and selling it... so they have no motivation to stop the leak. WHAT?!? Really??? If that were the case, wouldn't there not be an oil problem on the beaches? And even if that were the case, wouldn't it be more economical for them to get the oil out the way they had planned, not have to waste all the time separating it from the water?? Seriously.... some people boggle my mind. I kind of wanted to meet that guy. Letters to the Editor in the newspaper are also amazing. One time someone wrote in that she was glad Dan Sullivan didn't close a bike trail that a man had been attacked on (he was fine, the bear wasn't being aggressive, the man scared him and he was able to ride his bike to the hospital) because "the trails belong to us and we need to take them back from the bears" WHAT?!? (I think I may have blogged about this before... as you can tell, it really hit a nerve) Pretty sure we don't own the park. I think a bear should put that lady in her place.

Alright, guess I am going to get ready for bed. Pretty excited that W will be home tomorrow. I don't really enjoy him being gone for such long periods of time. It is especially hard since I can't even talk to him at all. But, he enjoys camping... I wouldn't want to be told that I can't go to my quilt retreats or Sock Summit, so I suck it up...

A few funny things

The other day I was at work at the quilt shop and a customer said to me, "Oh! You're pregnant! I thought you were just putting on weight and didn't want to say anything.... congratulations!" hahaha... This didn't bother me, but I thought it was weird that she would tell me she thought I was just getting fat, seems like something that might not normally be shared. :P

My dogs are goof balls. W bought them rawhides yesterday (HUGE treats... they never get stuff like that, I might treat them to a bully stick every now and then, but not rawhide) and they are so weird about them. Snickers especially. He can never decide if he wants to eat his treats or bury them. So he chewed on it for a while then decided it was best to hide it. He tried to hide it by the back fence, but then he realized W and Frito were watching him and that just wasn't going to work out. Then he thought about going under the new shed... (which is his new favorite place) and then decided against that. So now it is sticking out of the ground, like a marker, by the fence on the side. What a goof. I will try and post a picture of it later today. It is just too funny to watch them...

I am on the last color of my baby nest. So 1 inch to go on the front and then 5 on the back!!! I can't believe how close I am to being done. My goal was to be done in two weeks, but it looks like it might be sooner than that depending on how my weekend goes...

I have the next four days off. I was going to go camping, but decided to skip it as I don't think my body can handle sleeping on the ground for three nights. So it will just be me and the pups while W goes out to explore Alaska. Alright, off to go run some errands. Hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday weekend!