Where is the Handbook? I need to edit it.

I swear there is something in the childhood handbook that says when Mum takes you out to the store, you have to be the worst little hellions there are, the thought being that Mum can't take us anywhere so we can spend all our time at the park or playing somewhere.... not a bad rule unless you're the mum.

Child A - the encourager.
Child B - the do-er

Child B does something to irk Child A... then Child A laughs until Child B does something to make mummy so mad.

(I love my children dearly but they are driving me to the brink...)

Identity Theft.... Alert, for ATL babies parents

After receiving 3 (not 1 but 3) separate letters from various State MEDICAL affiliated organizations about one of my children, watching the news tonight I caught the tail end of yet another Identity Theft Alert, but I missed the details so I quested on a mission to make sure that no more of my children were affected.... thank goodness this time they weren't. If you've had a kid between April 1, 2006 and March 17, 2007 in the ATL area hospitals.... You might want to read this! You'll get a letter anyway if it affects you but you still might want to know..

http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/hall/newfullstory.asp?ID=114320

*sigh*
Is nothing sacred anymore?!

Hyena's from the Dark and Mirky and failed shopping trips

Ya know I'm trying to be a good wifey.... I'm trying get my poop together so that I can get my house organized and feed my family good healthy home cooked meals..... but I'm so unprepared for this kind of child! LOL! I got spoiled with the first and second... so apparently it is divine retribution! I hope I'm a quick study! LOL! Without further adieu - Failed shopping trips or maybe they're successful depending on your perspective!

You know your shopping trip is doomed from the start when child B spills her drink all over her shirt, knit shorts and cloth diaper.... and the freshly washed carseat cover is still drinking up the liquid! But the tides seem to change when someone takes pity on you and forgot to take your weekend ditty bag out of the trunk, thus you find not only a FULL change of clothes *what was I thinking* but a wad of disposable diapers that you 'NEVER' ordinarily have on hand. But don't be fooled... this is just a ruse. You put your seemingly innocent children into the cart and they start pounding the snot out of each other.... Long hair begets screeches of "MUMMY she pulled my hair", followed by "OW OW OW" from the gibberish-laden vocabulary of your 1 yr old. "What did you do?" "I bit her ear!" "You WHAT?" Sheepish grin. GRRR. A few minutes later your 1 yr old is bellowing.... yes bellowing at full tilt to be let out of the seat and the minute you get her clear of the cart she does that neat trick of putting her arms straight over hear head so she lands in a heap on the floor with a leering grin - that makes you shiver. You are doomed and you know it.... but maybe they'll be goood.... you fool! Just one more thing....
The one year old contentedly walks by the cart for all of the 5 seconds it takes to crest the next aisle, then she without warning darts like a cat burglar in and out of the view of the moving carts that have converged to plug this aisle, like there aren't 12 other aisles to be in! You spy the cans... a vision blooms in your head of the cans being meticulous pulled from the shelves... and the familiar heap and grin make you shiver again! You grab 3 cans before admitting defeat and you don't dare give rise to your vision which remains a vision due to your quick wit and clever planning. Your children have won but the battle is not over - you still have to check out what is in your basket.... you refuse to come home empty handed..... half a dinner is better than nothing... thank goodness you are vegetarian again - because the only meat in the cart was had from the deli before that leering all telling grin that forecast the outcome of this trip. Your attempts to have the 1 yr old cooperatively walk by the cart end in a battle of who is more agile.... the 1 yr old or her mother. Mother reigns supreme in this department but Hyena B has a voice that can make her displeasure known to all who happen near. I had a woman look at me like I was abducting my child from the store... thank goodness they look like me! LOL! She said nothing.

We made it home safe, the little groceries we did get were put away amid a spewing of obscenities that I'm glad I couldn't understand from the 1 yr old.

Thank goodness for nap times and chocolate!

The question becomes will I survive this child?

ETA: Yes it is okay to laugh... I won't be offended.

Back - Knit Happenings - Life

Well the girls recovered from their illness, and dh and I still have a lingering kinda coughy thing happening. S is now teething her 2 yr molars, she is a drooling fiend which is unusual for a 1.5 yr old in my estimation but hey - I'm a weirdo in my views anyway! LOL!

So we had an awesome time at the beach. Discovered that S has a vocabulary at almost 17 mos of 24 intelligible words or signs.... (4-ish signs and 20 words.) We didn't really keep up the sign with her until she was much older - so we're lagging a little with that, but we will be trying to find a sign instructor so that the girls can communicate with their sister and other individuals that practice sign. I think it would be awesome to have them fluent in sign (and of course I'm learning too!)

Anyway we've discovered the M hates noise and S loves it. We caught the Blue Angels first practice since the airshow accident, while in Pensacola, FL.... Sarah loved it, and when it was done she kept signing more and pointing to the sky! LOL! S love birds too... and made up a new sign for bird.... reminiscent of the birdy dancy move... followed by a eee eee. Each birdy was followed by the sign more and her new sign repeated multiple times! Its funny to see her communicate this way. S hated the sand at first lifting her legs until I set her on our towels. Then she began investigating the sand 1 finger at a time, until by the time we left she had sand in her hair, all over her face you name it! LOL! She never did acclimate to the surf, but there is still hope for the pool!

M loved the beach the sand, surf.... and watching the airshow practice, even if she spent the whole time with her hands over her ears. We had an awesome time playing the license plate game on the 6 hr trip down to the beach... we all kept watch for new ones, and she has two favourite state plates... Arizona and Hawaii (purple cacti and rainbow - very girly!)

So when we were driving or not on the beach, I managed 10 of 50 pumpkin hats - my new goal for the end of the year. And I also completed 2 of 50 Christmas hats to make a total of 6 (I think.)

I came home to some fluff mail of yarn-y bliss! LOL! The 3 balls of PW I had just ordered (Rosa&Verde, Otono, Capriccio) So after balling them last night I have the Rosa&Verde on the hook for a pair of LadyBug Pants. I'd love to start making these pants or even the shorties for pay but have no clue where to begin on that front... so I'll just keep on making my own for now... unless someone pipes up and says OH Please make me some!

Life seems really crazy at the moment. As most of the neighbors (I mean local friends - definitely not my neighbors) are gearing up for the wind down of school and the lazy days of summer to come, they seem to be pulling me along into the craziness of their lives. I seem to be getting more involved with happenings and planning things... like helping out with the end of year Daisy/Brownie stuff... I need to pick up supplies for a craft on Thursday.... and other things too.... so life is spinning along at a quicker pace than I'm used to!

Will get pics of the yarn-y goodness when I get a chance.... in the mean time.... anyone know any spinners that would be willing to show a 6 yr old what they do but not necessarily how to do it?
I'm thinking of taking the girls to see a sheep sheering this year, and want to find a spinner to show my almost 6 yr old where my fascination comes from! :) And how it gets made into the products I use today!

Puk-erific

Our new dictionary (the one I'm making up) has a new word in it..... puke-erific.

Did I mention the girls were sick?! Well, the lovely germies they hatched were sent out on a mission to knock that mama down and take her out - well, they can report back to someone that wants them that that is just what they did.

Thursday I called DH home at 3:00, because I was feeling very very under the weather. He made it home with about 10 minutes to spare, before I was in the bathroom, worshipping the throne of the porcelain goddess. I can honestly say I've never ever ever before been hit by something so fast, so ferocious and so vile in my life. Every square inch of my back ached, and thank God for the wonderful invention of the plastic bucket and 'disinfectant.' Without going into details because you really really don't need to know. I'm much better now.

The only problems..... 1. we had a house guest arriving Friday (great, "Welcome to our humble abode affectionately named 'the home of the Plague', don't mind the stench- my wife is probably worshipping the throne again, and please excuse the mess, she hasn't moved her lazy backside off the couch since Tuesday - when she claims that snot nosed little chickee there got sick...")

2. S has a classic ear infection, and I'm second guessing everything I'm doing, cause I can't get the meds into her - which ordinarily I would refuse but she needs them, poor mite.

3. Life would be simpler if the folks in our house could adhere to the 1 person sick at a time rule.... you know - NO syncronized vomitting, and NO sharing infectious diseases no matter how badly you want rid of them.

Back to my books - this is EI - #2 for S in less than 2 months, so I need to dig out my Healing Childhood Ear Infections book, and run with the ideas in it, then the super-immunity book, because I'm tired of doctors!

Anyway - I'm back, I think.

So Many Things

First and foremost, I'm slacking.
The girls are both sick. Sick as dogs and were up most of the night so we're having a quiet day.

Second, my pretty hats won't stand up... they give new meaning to flacid tulips! *pout!* So I haven't sent my hats yet.

Third.....
When we get back from vac in may, I'm going to attempt to start cutting our operating budget. I'm gonna attempt to feed my family on less than $8.33 per day... Can I do it? I guess I'll need to get to work on the food price book everyone has always mentioned on the frugal sites. Our Freezer had a problem a little while ago... the power went out so our perishables have apparently perished, and now I have to restock and clean the grape popsicle stains from the freezer. Oh well, means a good opportunity to make homemade popsicles our first start on the trail of cutting costs. I'm planning to make ice cream (probably sorbet with just fruit, juice and water) along with some good snackables. Wish me luck and if there really is anyone out there reading my ramblings that has ideas for cutting an $800 a month for 4 (yes 2 adults 2 kids) people down to $250 per month, I'm all ears. I want to do this... LOL!

Fourth! My free time is about to come to an end! LOL! I might have my dream job! I might be starting to teach crochet at the local P&R. How cool is that? Plus I'm jumping into a Brownie Troop with my daughter and both feet. :) I'm excited and love the crafty side of things so this would work for me, while I think the other 2 moms like the community service/adventure aspect of things.... so this should be interesting.

I'm itching to get some wool together and start playing with dying too.... just so many projects and not enough time to do any of them!

40 Hats

Life has just general been busy and my computer not my friend... I don't love it like I once did, so lately I've been knitting, spending time with the kids or crocheting and doing a little reading. School actually gets a little more serious next year so I'm trying to fathom my way through that too! So that's my excuse for vacating the blog! LOL!

In the mean time for Milli's Lenten Journey she decided to make 40 hats in 40 days for her local NICU, and challenged a few others to do the same - and a few took up the challenge. I went along for the ride! :)

I managed my 40 hats, and got a little creative in putting them together but so far haven't managed a picture of them. My goal is to take them to the NICU on Friday of this week, so will get a picture up before we take them down to the hospital.

If she does a 100 Santa Hat challenge, I'll do that one too, but will probably add Tree hats into the mix just for fun! :) And I may just have to throw in some pumpkin hats on the side.

New Tickers Below.... Life

March, middle march... wow.... how'd that happen...
You know that statement is starting to drive me nuts. The days are passing by like a mere memory, 5 minutes is gone in a flash. I remember the days when summer holidays seemed like forever... and at the end of the summer I couldn't remember all that I had done from that last day of school... let alone remember the stuff we'd done in class the year before. Is that a sign that we were too busy to notice time passing or does time in the physical (rather than the linear) sense get shorter as we get older. I used to time how long it would take me to run to the bathroom and back when I was popping popcorn.... now I time how long it takes me to change a poop-y struggling toddler's bum, only because seconds are precious to her and doing a thorough job is vitally important! LOL!

In any event much is afoot here in our household....

* Dh has agreed to get a dog when our youngest is five, the ticker for that is at the bottom.

* I have decided to lose weight... which I've been trying to do for months already without much success but I'm planning to knuckle down and get it gone.

* We're planning to renovate the guestroom between now and the first week in April... so the race commences this weekend.... it will be done the way I want it... I just need time to play and sort and fiddle.

* M, moves up to Brownies shortly, and next week she commences her art class at the local Parks&Rec.

I've been a knitting and crocheting fiend.... with 40 hats on the go for Lent, I think I have 5 left to go... a pair of longies for S, finally in the Treliske yarn, which was dyed blue and purple, and turned out darker than planned. I have a bundle more projects I'd like to get done, as well as dejunking and digging myself out of the mess I call home.

In the mean time, life lurches on.... no time for scrapping at the moment, and frankly no desire... so I'll keep plugging.

Busy Daisy

Wow time flies quick before I knew it February had turned the corner and was on full tilt headed to March. Its Feb 24th today - Girl Scouts the World over are celebrating thinking day. In Canada, many years ago I learned about Lord and Lady Baden Powell who commenced the guiding movement.... and now in the US I'm learning about Juliette Low. Thinking Day is observed Feb 22 - but usually celebrated on the closest weekend. The little Daisies in our group were invited to observe Thinking Day events with a Global Safari theme - which the older girls (Brownies, guides, Junior Aides and Rangers maybe) in our local community put together with a lot of help from their leaders and parents and volunteers. It was awesome and great to see our lone Daisy troop (though there is another one nearby) accepted by the bigger kids and helped to enjoy the festivities!

12 days ago my dd joined our local Daisy troop which had already been in session for a couple months anyway! All the girls have earned most of their badges, but we're just commencing our journey there. DD has earned 4 of her daisy patches. In an effort to keep her interest, we have commenced with a number of neat crafts in order to help her learn what it is all about.

We visited makingfriends.com and got many of our ideas there - with a few changes here and there, this is what we've come up with......



A Daisy Law Necklace. Each coloured bead represents a petal on the daisy - and portion of the Law that she must learn.


Home made Daisy Shirt.

We've done a few others as well but haven't got photos yet.

Flannel Pants

I've fallen in love with flannel pants, they're just comfies for wearing around the house, but on those cold evenings its nice to snuggle up in a pair of soft pants that are warm and cozy. I figured my dd would like a pair too and bought a pattern a few weeks ago and finally got around to making them.

Simplicity 5271 (I think)

After a morning of baking Vegan Twinkies and some Wacky Cake muffins for our Valentine's Day party Saturday, I rounded out the afternoon by making M a pair of pants, and working on the Knit pants I have on the go for S.

What does Your Birthday Mean?

Your Birthdate: September 25

You excel at anything difficult or high tech. In other words, you're a total (brilliant) geek. It's difficult for you to find people worth spending time with. Which is probably why you'll take over the world with your evil robots! Your strength: Your unfailing logic Your weakness: Loving machines more than people Your power color: Tan Your power symbol: Pi Your power month: July

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Aperture and Pants

So on with the learning about the camera.... here is my lesson in aperture..... if you look at the photos you can see the background becoming clear... It stops being really noticeable at F 1/11 but if I'd used a different subject or been closure you might have seen more! Oh well it was a neat exercise!
In the mean time for you non-camera / non-scrapbook folks, I worked up a pair of Longies for little S. The pattern is Tiny Birds Longies and the yarn is Lion Felting Wool.... I just loved the colours and couldn't resist! :)

White Balance Challenge

So I was directed by a good friend to a photography tutorial on another site. Its time to actually learn what my camera can do - I've only had it almost a year!

So our first lesson was on White Balance.... the little WB button on the bottom of the camera. Neat effects.... here is the image

Posting Fool

Okay so some of my visitors (if there are indeed any!) don't visit me for my pretty pictures - they actually want to know what crafts I do and what I've been up to! Well!

My Christmas sweater did not get done in time for Christmas - so instead a different gift was given - so I will resume working on that.... I have 2 pairs of longies on the needles and 2 friends and one sort of sibling who have given birth or will be giving birth with in the next few weeks and a niece who will be having her 4th child in June.... so I'm busily at work on pretty sweaters! All while chasing after a newly walking 1 yr old. Yes folks, the little 7 month old in the picture below is now 13 months old and finally branching out on her own, I miss babyhood!

I have my first quilt on the go- both hand and machine sewing is taking place on that.... the colours aren't the greatest but the fabric was in my basket and my oldest loves the colours so if it makes her happy, then I'm happy and dh is happy that I didn't spend more money and am happily using up my growing stash!

I have a couple dozen new sewing patterns I want to try along with a gorgeous wrap skirt.... but I need said 1 yr old to sleep so I can figure it out! A couple pairs of flannel pants for the girls and myself, and we'll be all set in the sewing department....

Crochet, not much happening on that front.... I think I need to clear out and pare down some stuff before I venture on to too many projects !LOL! But check back, my crochet will be going again soon! :)

This all occurs in between my decluttering of course.... buried in here somewhere is my house! :)

Baby pictures

And with this bundle of pics we should be all up to date on what I've missed these last couple months! Between visitors, the holidays, trips and getting sick! Yipes!.... excuses, excuses!

Malassezia by Enableem; Flower Template by ShelleyRae

Malassezia by Enableem; Flower from Flower Template by ShelleyRae at Scrapbook-Bytes; Sketch by Tracy Blankenship; Stitches by Wendy Whitney (Patriotic Day Kit)

Toys, and Trips

A plane trip that should only have taken 3.5-4 hours took 7.... 3 hour ground delay! Well my little 1 yr old ran out of toys to play with..... so here she is playing with the seatbelt, which was the best toy for most of the flight! LOL!

Kit is Miss Mint's to My Mother

The template for this layout is one I fell in love with so I used it in a similar light to the way it was presented.... I love these pictures of Little 'newborn' Sarah, so don't be surprised you see them over and over again!

Papers from A Baby Story by Amanda RockwellWord Art by Maria LaFrance from the January 2007 Doodle Challenge - New Beginnings KitScraplift of Mateusz by Eri

Our recent trip to the beach! :)

Sailing Away Quickpage by Stacy Carlson and Kathryn Mhire

Goals, Snow and Visits!

What is January without a few goals?? Here are my Goals for 2007 (not resolutions - just simple goals!)

Michelle Swadlings Template #7, A New Day Surprise Crop by Paula Yagisawa

As February approaches I'm always reminded that there is that tiny possibility of snow! So here is the snow layout! :)

Papers by me; Snowflake by Michelle Pieters from December GottaPixel Group kit

Brenda Miller's Grape Juice kit

My oldest playing Heading & Shoulders with Granny!

Sketch Lovers Sketch #1; Miss Mint's Candy Fairway Kit

Spring Inspiration Kit by Valeri Brumfield

Long Time No Post

Things have been moving along pretty quickly and I've been a bad blogger. LOL! Sorry for any followers, not that there are many. January just took off running without me! Christmas was over and gone, we went on our family trip and then suddenly here we are less than 10 days til the end of January....

Enough excuses though!

Christmas was great, the kids had a great time, each getting something they will treasure for a while. Me, I got my Nano-IPod (how does one write that) and a flash drive, which I haven't put to use yet, and a ton of books... I'll be reading for the next millenia!
Layouts ah yes....... lets see!

Merry & Bright Crop Freebie by Lynne Simmons, Template by Michelle Swadling, Snowflake from Serenity Duet by Angela Sharrow and Jan Hosford
Merry & Bright Crop Freebie by Lynne Simmons; Snowflakes from Serenity Duet Freebie by Angela Sharrow and Jan Hosford
Fallin for You Party Pack by Irene Brown, December Blue Print Sketch by Brenda
Falling For You Party Pack by Irene Brown

Climbing with Tarzan Jane, and Birthday Cupcakes

All of these pages were created using Irene Brown (Enableem)'s Buttons Up Kit. I love the colours in this kit, I could play with it for hours....
Boundaries.... who needs them.
This is dd scaling the chair in the computer room. It would be sweet if she only did this once in a while but if you leave your chair for 2 secs she's on it.... the other part of the problem is she promptly falls off! The kicker.... she'll play on this chair but not its identical mate in the kitchen.... go figure.
She wasn't keen on the cake.... (so wait for the Pasta Sauce pics that will come soon!)
And this is the full year of little Sarah.
The pictures are laid out in months as follows:
1 2 3 4
5 B B 6
7 B B 8
9 10 11 12

New Slide

Kay so here is the new slider with some of my layouts on it.... once I figure out how to get it on the sidebar I'll do that.... but I'm not in the mood to muck about right now....