Gentle Breezes......

........NOT!
So, we had a bit of wind here on Saturday. As in completely insane wind, to the tune of 60 mph gusts on a pretty regular basis. And the most fun? The dirt. Most of West Texas blew in with that wind. I think I still have some in my teeth.

And me? Did I stay home like a good little momma whose hubby was out of town? No. Hunter's game was cancelled because it was supposed to rain (it didn't) so I packed up my kids and drove the hour and twenty to Ennis to visit the in-laws. Actually, it took an hour forty-five this time. And I almost collapsed when I arrived from sheer exhaustion. Not my smartest move. But, I had told the kids we were going, and there was BBQ waiting for us! Whattya gonna do?

So here's the lovely Arlington skyline. Or at least, where it was supposed to be.



I took this pic to show the color difference between what was hit by the wind and what wasn't. The white side of that bridge support isn't just white because the light is different. The rest of it is covered in dirt. It was surreal. The sky was orange and somehow everything with a reflective surface shone with an irridescent blue.



Speaking of lights....I'm thinking this is why our clocks were all blinking when we got home that night:


it's right across the street from us. They fixed it today but we only lost power for a few minutes on Saturday from what I can tell. Which is a bit scary when you think about it.

Meanwhile. The skies are blue now but we are all still hacking and wheezing as our bodies try to deal with the aftermath of all this. Fun stuff. Almost like a dirt hurricane.

O.K. maybe not.

Here's the news story about it:
http://www.txcn.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/tv/stories/DN-wind_25met.ART0.North.Edition1.210e0ba.html

Riding again.

We're up and trottin' again. Josiah is so excited. He jabbered the whole one hour session and talked a lot afterwards.

"I'm good at riding horses, Mom."
Yes you are, my son. Yes you are.

(And that is indeed Curious George in his hands.)

The first game...

.....was great. I'm o.k. now. His coach is really great, very encouraging and positive. They have only had one practice so he just used the game time as a chance to teach and let the boys try any position they wanted to. He cycled them in and out like.....well, I don't know, something you cycle really quickly. All the boys are encouraging to each other and they truly are there to have fun.



And they even won!!!




Ours definitely has some work to do, but I think this was the perfect place to start him. Yay! Thanks for the prayers! God is good, even in the little things. Or maybe, especially in the little things.

What was I saying?....

Just when I was feeling smug about us all being healthy while the rest of the country fights the "heebie-jeebies":


I know that look. That 101+ look. That, Mom puts the "rice bag" on me instead of in the microwave because I heat it faster, look. Sweet love. And today was class photo day.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Meme

Ripped from Manda's blog:

Rules: Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following…They MUST be real places, names, things…NOTHING made up! If you can’t think of anything, skip it. Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. You CAN’T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

Your name: Teresa
Athlete: T.O.
4 Letter word: Tome
Street name: I could make up anything here but I know there are streets named Teresa
Color: Teal
Gifts/presents: Truffels
Vehicles: Tahoe
Tropical Locations: Trididad/Tobago (considered one nation)
College Majors: Theology (my personal favorite)
Dairy Products: Turtle Tracks ice cream
Things in a Souvenir Shop: Trinkets
Boy Name: Trevor
Girl Name: Tabitha
Movie Titles: The Thing (though I've never seen it)
Alcohol: I'm afraid I'm out of my element with this one.
Occupations: Therapist
Flowers: Tea Rose
Celebrities: Tom Hanks
Magazines: Texas Parks and Wildlife ... or Travel
U.S. cities: Tolar, Texas (my college roommate was from there)
Pro Sports Team: Titans

All's well that ends well.

I believe the proper word here is:
Squeeeeee!!! >_<

I love my yarn.

(the nickle is for size reference. one trip around the loop is 66 inches)


I didn't think I'd like this one. I'm not into earth tones. Man is this yummy! ya know, in an earthy kinda way.


BTW. The game is at 11:30 on Saturday. You have my permission to pray during that hour.....

More Pictures

I've posted my pictures of the yarn and the yarn-dying and also a swatch of the "earth tones" that I worked up at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mamateresa/YarnDying

And for those of you who do not read my blog for knitting stories:

Hunter has started Roller Hockey. It's his first foray into organized sports and at the ripe old age of 11, I was a bit worried about him. In true Hunter fashion, however, he is just skimming along and enjoying it. He has had one practice so far and will have one more (2 whole practices in his whole life) before their first game on Saturday.
I'm not worried.
Nope.
Not a bit.
8-0

Josiah is also in process to ride horses again. We've turned in all the paperwork and are now waiting on the financial aid process. Todd will be working with the organization some helping with advertisement and brochure lay outs so maybe that'll help some too. He's excited about it.

So far we've not ventured into the world of pee-wee sports for Isaac. I'm thinking that his brothers turned out just fine without it......

The Story

So here's the deal. Remember that knitting group I joined a few weeks ago? I finally got to meet up with a few of the gals at a local coffee shop the other night and I really had a great time. Turns out a few of them were getting together today to try their hands at dying their own yarn and I got invited. It was a total blast! We used all manor of dying techniques....none of them commercial. We had Kool-Aid, Easter Egg dyes, tie-die kits and I think a cake dye or two I'm not sure.
Most of the ladies met for lunch and went to a local yarn shop to buy some undyed yarn to use. I had no such need. I felt like the queen of thrift with my home-made "niddy-noddy" and my $.25 (yes, CENTS) aran sweater, made in Ireland of undyed wool, that I had "unmade" in Keller the day before. I had tons of wonderful yarn to play with as I pleased without having to worry about how it turned out....since it was so cheap!
You saw in the last post how my yarn turned out. I'm very happy. I've also learned that I prefer Kool-Aid for dying to the others. It's looking now like it takes to the yarn and stays there better than easter egg dye or even tie dye sometimes. Some of the ladies got some truly yummy colors and I'm mad at myself for not taking pictures of them but a good time was had by all!

It occured to me at some point while getting ready to leave that the clothes I wouldn't mind dying in are the same clothes I normally wouldn't be caught dead in. Funny how that works out.



And when you are dying your own yarn (cause I know you will), and someone offers you latex gloves..............
think long and hard before turning them down. (this pic was taken after quite a bit of the color had worn off)

Yarn

I'll be explaining this yarn in the next post but Blogger doesn't post enough pictures at a time to satisify my story-telling yen.
Meanwhile, these two are very earthy colors, maybe not quite a bright as the photo looks. The jury's still out on these.


These turned out just like I wanted them to...and there's a bunch of it!



These were a couple of test hanks we did trying to get a good purple.

And these are a reminder that my children are also quite artistic. They're made of Fimo clay and if you've never played "Rayman" trust me, they're really great likenesses.

Too tired.....

Sometimes you just gotta post a pic and go to bed.

Ike headed in for yet another Western Day. Someday I'll post the video of the "Rodeo". You will laugh. Hard.

O.K.

There was an episode of Star Trek Next Gen one time where they took the entire population of a planet and transplanted them to another planet that had been hologramed to look just like theirs. Did somebody do that here? They got the weather wrong.
We've had snowfall for 3 days in a row now. It didn't accumulate until yesterday when it wasn't even freezing but it was coming down so hard that it started stacking up. It snowed again in the night and has snowed off and on all morning. It'll all be gone by supper, I'm sure, but it has been rather surreal in the mean time. One day of ice per year, that's our allotment. We've definitely exceeded our limit. In fact, we've tripled it just this week.

Another Twilight Zone Moment:

Super Bowl

Got this in an e-mail from my aunt today. How true, how true.





Now, if we could get it to do the laundry that gets stacked in the bathroom floor next to it, it would be a "Super-Duper Bowl".

What I've accomplished this week.

So here's that doo-ma-jiggy I was talking about. Not the greatest pic, but it is almost my bedtime, so you'll just have to settle I'm afraid. It's knitted out of wire and (obviously) beads. It stretches a bit to fit the glass/candle holder/potpourri jar/whatever. This is a vase that I'm looking for just the right candle for. I think the glass beads will look really great with candle light shining through. Next time I may knit it a bit wider....maybe put dangly beads around the bottom....who knows?

Again, this has no name. I'm open to suggestions but not promising I'll use any of them. 8-D



This next piece (like that?) is a hat I knitted...knit?.....what's the proper past tense here?.....anyway....I made it for my nephew because he wanted something bright and all my sister had was hot pink. Whatever you may say about fashion, I refused to let my 4 year old nephew wear a hot pink hat, so I made him this one out of yet another disassembled thrift store sweater. I love the colors and may make one for myself one of these days. My nephew was sufficiently grateful. He put it on, did a happy dance, sang a short happy song and was still wearing it when I saw him again quite a bit later.

Note: those for whom it is sufficiently gratifying to knit are sure to receive many more hand-made items than those who show less enthusiasm.




And now, my hands are cold and it's late. Just so you know, I have also done all my dishes (well, I did yesterday anyway) and washed many loads of laundry....and folded them and put them away...and cooked several meals and went to work and.....well, anyway, this week I actually did more than just knit. Just so you know.

KOL.....again

Yet another example of why I love kingdom of loathing:



You quickly make some paper out of a nearby tree, and some ink out of a nearby... umm... squirrel. You make a copy of the map and stick it in your pocket.
You acquire an item:

Spooky Temple map


O.K. Maybe you think I'm too easily amused, but the whole squirrel thing made me laugh out loud. Especially since I'm forever trying to make things from 'scratch'.
No. They are not serious. It's a spoof. A roll playing game that makes fun of roll playing games. Does it get any better? Not in my world.

Playing catch-up

Found my camera!

Here's that snow:

Once again, my children will play outside all day if it's below 30 degrees. They won't set foot outside if it's 65 or warmer. Crazy kids.


This is a "bowl" I knitted. It's from a new book I got and I'm supposed to knit this big bowl then felt it down and it stiffens up and makes a really cool felted bowl. I spun this yarn myself so I know it's wool. I bought it as a bag of wool "scrap" roving and I guess it was "super-wash". Whodathunk? It "felted" in that it got softer and the wool fuzzed together but it did not shrink in the least. Unfortunately, Todd loves it. I say "unfortunately" because he wears it in public. I pretend I don't know him when he does.



This next project turned out decidedly better. It's what I did with the rest of that very first sweater I frankenstein-ed. It turned out to be a great little bag, fully lined with left over upholstery fabric and zipped with a zipper pulled from an old pair of cargo shorts. Really and truly recycled. and it really is that bright.


I have more photos to show ya but Blogger only does 4 at a time.(I've had to repost the photos and had to do it from the original files, so they are uncropped, unturned in some cases and otherwise au-naturale.) I know I've been a loser-poster lately but I'll try to post some more of the photos soon. No promises.

Surprise!

You know how sometimes you wait and wait and wait for something, and then you finally give up on it or forget about it and then, all of a sudden it happens? That happened yesterday. The "end of the world ice-storm" never appeared. We all went to school and/or work on Tuesday. Wednesday morning we're getting ready to go when Todd hears on the radio a list of school closings. What? I look out the window and everything is white. Amazing! It was 6:30 and, dang it, I was too excited to go back to sleep. Hunter was the only kid up so we let the other 2 sleep in before sharing the exciting news. It actually snowed for hours and hours....and stayed on the ground most of the day. I took loads of pictures but put my camera down somewhere in all the excitement and now I can't find it. Of course.

Today was just like Tuesday. We got up and all went to school or work. Who knows what tomorrow holds?



Meanwhile, I've been "franken-knitting" and turned a couple of wool sweaters into some felt-fodder. The orange one has so far donated it's arms to a pair of fingerless gloves (I call them glove-lings) for me to knit in. Them thar aluminium needles get cold, I tell ya'! So far they still have safety pins separating the fingers, but I'm not sure I won't leave them that way. The pins give more space between the fingers than a seam would.

Since I can't show you snow photos, here's a pic':





I like 'em! They're nice and warm, yet not constricting. Good for knitting, changing TV stations, dialing phones, typing. Not good for washing dishes, petting cats or going to the bathroom. Just so you know.

I'm also working on another wire/bead/glass colander/decoration/thingy so I can take some photos and show you what I mean. Maybe you can help name them.

Try and keep warm.....except Bob and Geraldine...and the Emersons....and anyone else living in warm climes.....ya' hosers! Love ya' anyway.

For THIS I bought canned meat?

Maybe it'll kick up tonight. Here's doubting.......



On a warmer note, my fam is all enjoying sporting around the "chemo caps" I've been knitting. Luckily they're mostly for my MIL and I know she won't mind them being "preworn". If I knit any to donate, I'll have to hide them somewhere.

Update.

Well, I tried to find a good Christmas picture to go with this post but couldn't find any. I guess we took them all with Todd's camera.

Christmas was really nice. Aside from Isaac having fever and barfing half of the day, that is. Bless his lil' heart, he didn't enjoy any of his gifts - even the electric 4 wheeler - until the next day.

We had a nice, leisurely Christmas holiday. We did go to several family events and all but they were well spaced and low stress. The days we didn't go to family, we stayed home. It was so wonderful to be lazy!

We really stuck to our resolution of "only 3 gifts per child" this year. We got the idea from a friend in Montgomery and have tried several times to stick to it but somehow gifts just multiply. This year they each got 3 gifts on Christmas (not counting little bits in stockings), all except Ike who actually only got 2....but he did get that 4 wheeler so he wasn't counting. It's not surprising but somehow gratifying that they were so much happier with their few gifts than they have ever been with a whole pile. They each played with their gifts non-stop the whole holiday. You know, the main idea was, "If 3 gifts were enough for Jesus, then it's certainly enough for our kids," but there appears to be more than one reason for limiting gifts. Who'd'a thunk?

New Year's was quiet and spent at home with our kids, who all stayed up this year. We all sort of looked at each other and said "Happy New Year" and then trundled off to bed. Perfect.

We're all back at school and work now. The boys are doing well and Todd likes his new job so far. We're out for MLK day on Monday and it's looking like we'll need it to recover from the oncoming ice storm. I bought canned meat today just in case. It seemed silly, winter storms seldom turn out as bad as they predict around here but I underestimated a storm once.....Ivan... and it was a mistake I do not intend to duplicate...even though ice storms and hurricanes are quite different. You know what I mean.

Hmmm. I feel like I'm rambling and that may be due to the late hour. Just felt like making up for lost blog-time.....did I mention our internet was down most of the Christmas break? Ah well, now ya' know.

And just because every blog should have a picture:
Here's the design Ike drew for his t-shirt.




Yes, it's Pikachu, Ash and Squirtle.



Life is good.

That sweater....

Remember that pink sweater that I "recycled" into yarn?

















This is one of the hats I made with it:
















It was for my friend who teaches our girls Praise Dance on Wednesday nights. I co-teach with her....well, I push buttons on the CD player and help with Bible study anyway. I saw this pattern for "happy children" on an afghan and converted it into a hat. It just so happened that there are 15 "dancing girls" on the hat and our two dance classes combined have 15 girls in them. Sometimes things just work out like that, eh?
It's super-soft and a pretty color.
I also used it to knit a lace hat for my co-teacher at preschool but hated it. She, of course, does not hate it but my hating it lead to something serendipitous. I knitted a beaded wire ring for a glass pillar vase that turned out to be absolutely gorgeous. I did not, of course, take a photo of it because that would have been too smart.
The funnest part of it all is that I finished the wire contraption while waiting for my friend at a coffee shop....on the same night that a local knitting group was meeting! So, now I'm a part of their group and am having a blast reading all the e-mails they generate on their yahoo group. I love the digital age!!!
Someday I'll get a photo of both the lace hat and the beaded wire...what?....vase bracelet? Is there an official name for such a thing? Beaded wrap? Cuff? Whosamawhachit? Whatever it is, I'll show it to ya' one of these days.