Pumpkin Sunrise

I finished the Valley socks are finished!  (yay) I'm on the first sleeve of my fair isle sweater .  I love working on this project and will be a little sad when I'm done.  But I'm not done so I'm still happy! My son's blanket is growing as well.  I achieved a great photo with the iphone instead of the big camera.  Maybe the sun peeking out today helped a bit in my shadowy house. I'm in the last 200 pages of George Washington.   I've enjoyed this book immensely however, it's a dense read and each sentence is dripping with information so it takes awhile to get through.  I do recommend this book if you want to learn more about the first president and the beginnings of the United States.  Earlier this week I started reading March and so far I like it.  I've read one other of Geraldine Brooks  (can't remember the title!).  Her writing flows and the research she does for historical fiction shows.  Another great book and writer

Good morning!  Did you watch the Super Bowl?  Well, I did but passively.  I thought that the commercials were a bit lacking and the game was sort of boring as well.  However, football is boring over all except for all the knitting I do! This weekend was slow in the mornings and mid afternoons and then busier in the evenings.  On Saturday I managed to work on the SLEEVE of my sweater, yeppers!  I am onto sleeve knitting and it's wonderful.  I spent some quality time reading George Washington too.  I've been sketching daily and I broke out the watercolors.  My brain aches with 'just do it' 'don't judge it' mentality.  I'm proud that I am continually showing up and just doing it.  I'm assuming I will see improvements over time. Our son was here for an overnight stay on Saturday.  I am grateful he is only  1 1/2 hours away and is able to do this.  This coming fall he will be applying for jobs for 2020.  Who knows where he will be so I'

Earlier this week we had a snow storm that lived up to the hype it was given on the evening news.  I woke up on Tuesday and found out that I didn't have to babysit due to the snow.  My jubilant feelings reminded me of how I felt on snow days as a child. Back then I would wake up and listen to the radio to hear if one of three schools were canceled.  I rode two buses to a Catholic school, hence the three chances of a cancellation.  Being a Catholic student had it's blessings. Once I heard a school I then listened again to make sure I wasn't dreaming.  I'm amazed how currently I can just go onto the news website and see the list of cancellations or delays.  Technology does sure a purpose for good in some instances.  I'm lucky in that my employer does not want me driving in bad weather and her schedule is flexible to accommodate spur of the moment changes. On Tuesday I made best use of my free day by knitting, reading and drawing in my sketchbook.  My goal

Hello knitting peeps and non-knitting peeps.  I'm excited to tell you all about my knitting because I am finally (finally!) at the fair isle knitting band before the ribbing of the body of the sweater .  Honestly, I'm a little sad that the miles of stockinette are done but I'm thrilled to be nearly finished with the body and so very close to the sleeve knitting. Lucky for me, I love sleeve knitting and how speedy the knitting goes as the stitches are decreased.  The husband's socks are not seeing much action.  I'm reserving them for babysitting days and lately I haven't had time to knit like I usually do because of inclement weather and starting work at a later date or not going to work at all.  I also spend approximately an hour a day on my son's blanket .  This is a long term project that is at the ready by my loveseat for TV knitting. What are you crafting these days? 

Well, my weekend was filled with goodness.  Yesterday after the kids all arrived, we drove up to Scranton to see Spamalot.  What a fun musical!  I love that we can go up there for a show and get home and sleep in my own bed.  Maybe in ten years time I can see Hamilton  touring (ha ha). Anyways, whenever the house is full, I can barely function with my regular pursuits.  I can't focus on reading a book or knitting on the simplest of projects.  You know what?  I am okay with that personality trait.  I went through the weekend having fun conversations and enjoying them be here. We ate dinner out on Friday and Saturday night.  Today was boring food to get back into a healthy eating habit.  My house is clean, the laundry is finished and I'm sitting here relaxing.  Everyone left by lunchtime, so I scurried about tidying so I could sit and knit later in the day. We have snowflakes in the air!  I'm typing away and looking out the window smiling.  My sweater continu

This is not my dog!  However, he is at the babysitting job and I do love him so and he loves me.  Whenever I arrive, he whines for me to let him out of his cage (which I do!).  I give him time to 'get his wiggles out' as he runs about looking for mischief. He is a Papillon and is a lap dog.  I definitely could be a lap dog in a previous life I think, sit and get petted, sounds great. The terrible twos seem to be giving way to wonderful threes (in April).  There are some temper tantrums but I give her lots of sympathy----'I know you are angry but let's think of something else instead'.  It works most of the time.  My little toddler girl that I babysit now has emerging imagination play and I'm all for that.  Our toy cows fly through the air and make friends with the toy pigs who fly as well.  We sing 'cockledoodledo' as long as we can and giggle over the tandem voices.  She dances and sings.  She also is funny.  I drank all of my hot tea and said it

Mark the date:  these are the first photos taken after 5:30 p.m. with enough light - again, January you never fail to make me love you so. Onto my knitting this week.  First up is my fair isle sweater - isn't it beautiful?  I cannot wait to wear it.  That's assuming it'll fit (which it should).  Luckily it's 100% wool so I do have some blocking wiggle room if I need an inch width-wise.  I love sitting and knitting on this sweater and sometimes I knit slowly to make the happiness last. These socks are for my husband who loves green.  I finished the first sock over the weekend and promptly started the second sock.  I'm trying to not knit on them on home so they can be taken to babysitting in case I have free time (nap!) to catch a few rows. Now we get to the BLACK blanket that is impossible to photo to show it's beauty.  Trust me, it looks great.  This past week I've been faithfully reading to finish two books.  Yesterday while I was readi

How was your weekend?  Mine was wonderful.  I finished a book (that leaves three more to go) and I finished one sock and started the second sock.  Oh and guess what?  So far I have electricity.  I was worried enough about the weather that I did all the laundry on Saturday and powered up the power banks for the phones AND filled up some jugs with water.  The water jugs are still sitting on the kitchen counter, just in case.  I believe in enough magic to know that if I tip them down the drain, the lights might just go out. I finished reading The Clockmaker's Daughter, by Kate Morton    and it was 'okay'.  I liked her previous books better.  I didn't care for all the different times in the past, there were a lot and the ending left me thinking 'what??'. I'm now focusing on Magpie Murders and will try my best to finish that book next.  I'm over half way and am thoroughly enjoying the mystery.  Sadly George Washington has been set aside so I

my work day  Hello!  Another week has come and almost gone.  I wish I could bottle up these January days and forever slow time down.  Every morning I wake up early and write in my journal and do my prayers.  I have full belief that every day is THE DAY I use my time wisely and eek out as much goodness from every minute.  Lunch time comes too quickly and yet again I'm sure I have more than enough time to read or get whatever tasks need to be completed.  Dinner time comes and goes and I realize that it's another day that I've frittered away time.  After dinner I knit and plot my next day. I go to sleep, I wake up and repeat the thought process again.  Ordinarily one would think I'm a 'glass half full' kind of gal based on this behavior and I would agree that I truly truly believe I can do everything and anything I've conjured up on my daily list. Here's the thing.  I love thinking of each day and it's possibilities and the hopefulness the