the first day

well…the “return to school letter” has shown up in the mailbox so it is official. my mornings of getting out of bed whenever and endless cups of coffee with Matt Lauer are over. (did that sound right?!?!?) 

final week of summer. it’s been good, busy, eventful, relaxing and i’m probably ready to go back.

in review:

early in the summer i tackled the outdoor work. the yard, flower gardening, weeding. i moved plants, bought new, placed all new woodchips, planted window boxes, bought bird feeders and made great suggestions of other heavy-handed work that hubby could do like sod and plant raspberry and blackberry bushes, move the wood pile! now, at summer’s end, it’s all done and looks great!

we all welcomed tiny, little Abigail Louise into our family in the middle of july. i’m now a grandmother of 2. what fun that was. and i went to stay with my daughter and her growing family for a few weeks to help them get settled into their NEW family life, cuz it’s never the same when you add another. they are all doing great. even the little-big brother!

tried lots of new recipes and enjoyed great outdoor eatting as much as possible. this was a difficult year with the cicadas and now the itch mites.  bugs just need to stop bugging me! this is a reason to look forward to fall.

i was a bit crafty with my sewing machine. which i plan to put into practice more this winter. i’m not giving up! and in knitting news….i finished two baby sweaters, a baby hat, my chevron scarf, a pair of baby booties, 4 squares of a mitered square blanket, and 2 sleeves plus about 6″ on a sweater for hubby (then ripped it all because it was too big!), restarted…and i’ve knit 6″ of the sweater and 1/2 of one sleeve again.

in reading…i have some great books on the side of my bed, both a fiction and a non-fiction. i enjoy them when i feel like it. but i’ve been a magazine junkie this summer!!! i know i will have better reading time this winter.

in nesting news i’ve been a power-house. (is that a play on words?) i have done SO much purging over the course of the summer…if you are looking for it…but haven’t used it in awhile…honey, it’s gone! i’ve reorganized all sorts of stuff. some stuff even i keep going back to the wrong place for, shoot there are some light switches i’d move if i could.

i painted and had a new floor put in my home office. picked out new fabric for pillows in that room and just need to stitch those up. ordered new furniture and picked out paint colors for our family room and living room and scheduled the floor sanders for those rooms too.  the painting will begin next week. and the old furniture will be out off here in just a few days. we may be sitting on milk-cans to watch tv. (oh yeah, we won’t be watching tv. i’ll be back at work and we will be too busy painting) yeah…that was alot….those two rooms caused me a few sleepless nights…those are big decisions.

my son visited for a few weekends it was great to have some time to relax, meet a new friend of his, enjoy some good food and catch-up with him.

i saw some great movies over the summer. last night we went to see Paris Je t’aime, it was good. i would pick the movie Once as my all time fav. i bought the soundtrack before i even saw the movie but then i’m a bit of a soundtrack nut.

i’ve got another little houseguest coming for a quick stay this week before my summer totally ends so must go pick up a few needed items. it’s going to be great fun and it will give his parents a bit of a break, yep he still lives at home. meals are easy to plan for him. he’s easy to cook for and likes simple foods. i really think his favorites are the little snacks times that come between meals or the treats that fit into ziploc bags to take with. he’s not a guest who likes to sit around a lot, he likes to be on-the-go so i like to plan something special for those. and he seems to favor my dinnerware. i had numerous cups with fancy little sippers on the top but there’s not one left in the cupboard. i think the last few times he was here he liked them so well he asked to take them home. (not that he does have some just like it at his house). and how can you say no to such a cute houseguest and one that calls you “Grandma Sweetie“.

i’ve had a perfect summer. can’t wait to see what fall brings.

there’s a concert on NBC tonight that if you have nothing to do you could sit and listen to some good music and maybe get some good ideas or some good reminders about re-cycling and re-using.  yeah-i’ve hear there’s some bad rap about all the “goings-on” behind the scene. that will have to be their problem.

you know we don’t all have to buy an electric car, give up road trips and sit in the sweltering hot without our air-conditioning all day long. all little things make a difference. and doing something is something! here’s some small things i’ve begun doing. and they’re not that hard!

turned off the tap when i brush my teeth, water flowers with my dehumidifer water, use cloth and knitted bags at the grocery store and when i can’t i re-use the plastic for bathroom trash liners or doggie you-know-what bags.

we’ve changed all light blubs to energy savers. and i’m a big light turner-offer. our bill went down! signed up with Com-Edison for Nature First. do you know what it is? you volunteer to have a switch put on your air conditioner unit and if needed, during peak demand times for a 3 hour period, once a day, sometime between 8am-6pm they turn off your compressor and your fan only will run. most folks are at work during this time anyway and you get a $10 credit, per month for the summer months. oh, and they haven’t had to activate the power-down for 3 years now. (but you still get the credit, just for being willing).

other energy savers: i wear tank tops or sweaters. that’s what they’re for!  shred your paper and recycle.  i just put down lots of wood chips that will help hold water for my plants.

i open the windows as soon as the temps go down.  i drop off clothes i can’t use anymore at those “drop boxes”. it’s a way to recycle.

and here’s a fun reuse, recycle daily site: http://dannyseo.typepad.com and don’t forget to make this fun  Lacey Grocery Bag from Italy(it was posted the last few days of June, just scroll down for it): www.purlbee.com

so, enjoy the concert and go green this summer!

okay, you take two pointy sticks, a long piece of string and a pattern that is written in either parargraph form or some secret code that you first have to learn and you do all this shaping and twisting and turning and you made these pieces of cloth that look just like fronts and backs and collars and sleeves of sweaters….or hats and scarves….even mittens and slippers. all-sorts of things and they fit you. you love them. you wear them. and while you’re making them you even carry the sticks and strings and scraps of paper around with you, in your purse, when you go to see your friends, on airplanes, in the car, at the dr. office, and in bed while watching Dave (letterman that is).

two sticks and a string. that’s pretty abstract if you think about it.

well….i’m trying to do a little sewing project. with a pattern. it’s either going to be a gift or a gift to the trash can.

sewing.

 think about it. the fabric is already made. the machine is “state-of-the-art” i mean there is electricity involved. the pattern is already made to the finished product shape. you basically cut it out and sew along the lines that they tell you. how hard can this be?

after a few hours of sewing last night my shoulders were stiff, my office was a mess and needed a good vacumning, plus i was stuck in there alone, and i’m not even making something that will be a wearable item so i don’t have to stress too much about size.

after awhile i just ditched the pattern…it was driving me crazy. i just looked at what i wanted to make, thought about it and started sewing. i then, slowly began to have a bit more fun. i have to remember this is something new. it’s going to take some time.

oh…and you know what i used to turn the “thingy” i’m working on inside-out and to get the nice pointy corners?  yep…a big-o-fat-knitting needle!

a bit of a challenge….

where’s your mobile phone? table

your hair? cut

work? not

your sister? busy

your dream last night? none

your dream car? range rover

the room your in? office

your shoes? barefoot

who did you hang out with this weekend? me

wish list item? furniture

last thing you did? cleaned

what you’re wearing? jeans

what you’re not wearing? glasses

your pet? bothersome

your compter? dell

your life? good

missing? hubby

what you’re thinking about? answers

your car? clean

your summer? free

your fav color? green

last time you laughed? today

last time you cried? unsure

school? out

love? lots

……give it a try if you want

first knitted item of the summer is free from the needles. the little baby blanket is done as of last night and was fluffed and sweetened overnight.

what to put on the needles next???

yesterday, while my car was in the shop for a few hours i had the porter drop me at Border’s Books. what could be better than that? i poured through sewing books.

now my head is swimming with possiblities…..

i’m off on my first, solo, road trip of the summer today. off to see my daughter and grandson for a few days.

free as bird, i am.

SCHOOL’S OUT FOR THE SUMMER!!!! (okay i did have that Alice Cooper album in high school, was that the one that came with those weird, paper panties?) i know this info really dates me.

today is my first official day of summer vacation. even tho it’s been 90 degrees for weeks now. this is what it must be like for kids who live in Florida. or those other warm states across America during those last few weeks of school. just terrible.  i tell you, the students kept telling me they felt like they were missing out on summer because it was so nice outside. they continued to tell me “it’s not fair, i could be doing this or that”. yeah–like I don’t have a life!!!  you kids have no idea….you think riding your bikes and “meeting-up” at McDonald’s is funtimes!

well, it’s finally here.

today i slept in. tomorrow i’m off to a graduation party. sunday to the beach to meet up with my family for a splashing good, sun soaked celebration of Father’s Day.

it all sounds like SUMMER to me.

sometimes you go through a bit of a dry-spell. it’s not like when you “don’t have a thing to wear”. i mean i have plenty to knit. i surely haven’t run out of patterns. and i sure don’t need any yarn.

but you hit a dry-spell of fresh, new patterns. something new and different on the needles. you need something inspiring. something that will be exciting. something that will draw you to it, give you that stay up till all hours feeling. something to get up early in the morning for.

i’ve been surfing over at www.kpixie.com they are refreshing. and in about a week the patterns should be pouring in my post. and i’ve got the yarn for most!!!

i’ve had my mind on knitting a skirt for a bit and Knit and Tonic is doing a cute one, i have the yarn for it, so i ordered up the pattern. it will probably be for next summer, i think it will take some time. kpixie had a cute, new Noni Bag pattern that i just had to have. there was a cropped shrugged that looked “oh so different” and simple, and a Glampyre chunky knit top that i would like to give a try. she’s a great designer.

so now i’m making some yarn decisions while i wait for my patterns.

oh….the little baby blanket is growing!!!! and the chevron scarf is still on hold. but it’s good to plan and knit for Fall in the Summer a girl’s got to be a season ahead.

guess what? i found a seagull feather in my backyard today. did i feel like i was on vacation? no….because: i was not barefoot, there was no sand anywhere to be found, and there was a very large cicada sitting on it. just had to throw in that little up-date. don’t want you to think things have QUIETED down around here yet.

so there’s going to be a little baby girl here in about 6 1/2 weeks!!!! yep, grand-baby #2.

how exciting is that! so…..in knitting news i’m about 1/3 of the way done with a little baby girl blanket knit in a natural, multi-color, cotton yarn. (have a few other things i’d like done before she arrives…we’ll keep our fingers crossed that i get my work done).

12 days and counting until the end of my school year and my summer break starts.  i’m ready for that… with the “to do” lists on the refrig.

in cicada news

….they’re bad.  we are a few days from “peak” i’m told.  on the evening walk with the dog i now wear my “wellies” because i can’t risk them getting on my sandaled feet and it’s too dark to see.  we offically have the wood-chip look around our trees and the grass moves if you stand still and watch.  the seagulls have started to arrive in the hundreds, as we were told they would, to eat the shells and the dead carcasses that don’t make it up in the trees. so as much as we all dislike seagulls i guess it’s a blessing because there is starting to be a smell in certain areas. there must be 300 birds hanging out the last two days at the local high school for some strange reason. i drive by there on my way to work, looks like something out of the movie “The Birds”. oh, and last night the dog waited a few minutes before digging into his evening meal as he usually does. i think he was a bit full from his little cicada snack that afternoon, he just can’t leave them alone.

in other crafting news…i was at the bookstore today.  and don’t worry, i’m not “going to the other side” or anything. at least i don’t think so. but i looked through…quite seriously, a new book: Teva Durham’s Crochet,  25 Designs for Crocheters (and knitters taking up the hook).  i have her knitting book and love her designs and her pattern writing.  this one really has me thinking!!!!!

you know how the media can’t be trusted. they send everyone into a “tail-spin” with the news, the weather reports, etc. you get all ready for something big and then it doesn’t happen.

well…mother nature…science. that can be trusted.

right on time. just as predicted we woke up to THEM this morning. as i drove down my street this morning, leaving for work one driveway looked fine and in the next…full and i mean full of brown, crispy cicada shells. all the children waiting at bus stops were stomping away!!! one little girl i stopped to talk to said, “it’s so much fun, they crunch like stepping on bags of potato chips, and there are SO many of them”.

yum-o?!? the noise hasn’t started up yet. i think the billions of them need time to all make it up into the trees. that’s probably for this weekend!!!

it’s piling up. and it’s a good thing!

if i don’t drown in books then maybe it will be in yarn, or maybe movie titles.

 or could i drown in sound?

i’ve been collecting.  in anticipation of my lazy days of summer. yes, i’ve begun counting down the days. is that how we survive? it’s our secret soul-salvation on some days.

the books are piling up.

 either on my desk or on slips of paper of soon to be released titles.  i have to keep collecting them because i just finished another great read this week: Astrid and Veronica, a surprising find at the bookshop. today i just picked up a new non-fiction by loved Barbra Kingsolver (you know, Poisonwood Bible fame). i’m going to try to hold-off on this one, but it’s going to be hard to wait to turn the pages on this one.  a new book, maybe that means a tour. of all my beloved authors, her path and mine have never crossed! and have you found yourself day dreaming about whatever happened to Vianne and her little daughter in Chocolat? Well, the wait is just about over. Joanne Harris has a sequel to the famed Chocolat coming out in June! oh..that’s just the beginning of my list! 

plans for yarn?

 i’m sooo loving working on my colorful Chevron scarf. when i get this one done….i will cast on for another. and of course the yarn is just lined up with possiblities!  so..loving..it!!!

i went to the video store yesterday to pick up a flick. i could have walked away with 4-5 others that i have never heard of, you know they must be those lower rated or art movies that just don’t make it to all the theaters. then last night we went with friends to a movie a they showed previews for, again, 3-4 summer release movies that look great. things are piling up!

and in my ears!

a few months ago i bought the soundtrack of the movie Devil Wears Prada. i have not tired of it yet. this week i bought: The Reminder, by Feist. it’s in my car, on my Bose at home, in my ears! i’m drowning in sounds. at work on friday we had an in-service, so a bunch of us went out for a quick lunch, i drove, Feist played. a passenger mention something about the music “feeling like we were shopping at Gap in my car”. I took this as a compliment!?!

Love…Love it!!!!! you will to!!!