Posts Tagged ‘friend’
Caught your attention with that blog entry title, huh? :) Well, don’t get too excited … I’m talking about felt as in the material ~ as in knitting a felted purse.
Now, originally I thought that felt was just something purchased at the craft store ~ three pieces for $1, or something cheap like that. I thought that felt was a fabric made by a machine, not something you could create yourself. Many years ago, I accidentally placed a wool sweater into the washing machine, with hot water ~ and it came out all felt-looking. Oops. But then, a few years ago, I saw my friend Carol’s beautiful felted bowl. And felted bag. And I thought, “How the heck would you knit something like that? I don’t see any stitches!”
I finished this knitting project last night for my mom. She asked if I would make her a bunch of kitchen dishcloths, which made me really excited. (Maybe she’s just humoring me, LOL!) They’re incredibly fast and easy. Sometime I’d like to try a tip that my friend Marilyn recently told me about. Wal-Mart’s craft department sells this threadlike stuff ~ it’s intended for a ballerina tutu or a wedding gown, to make the material somewhat pouffy. (I’d never heard of it before, but Marilyn bought some that’s green and said that there are different colors.) She holds this thread along with her yarn when she’s knitting a dishcloth, and it makes the dishcloth very scrubby. I felt one of her dishcloths, and it was like an exfoliant! Perfect for scrubbing dried grime off dishes (and probably lots of other household uses). I’m going to find some of that stuff the next time I’m there. One of my next knitting projects will be an Indiana dishcloth, and I’m very excited about that!
We watched two movies this weekend: “Transsiberian” and “The Love Guru.” Yes, two dramatically different films! :) “Transsiberian” was recommended to us by a coworker’s girlfriend, and although it was kind of weird in some ways, it was just excellent! I *really* enjoyed it. Most of the story takes place on a train, and Woody Harrelson plays a funny part. The scenery was amazing. “The Love Guru” was silly and good for laughs. Cracked me up that Mariska Hargitay was actually in the movie! I tried to do some knitting during each of these movies, but it was too dark in our living room ~ and the movies *really* captured my attention! :)
Speaking of knitting … I’m knitting now! Yay! :) Carol was *so* sweet to show me the techniques. I even purled a few stitches last night! I can’t tell you how excited I am to learn something new. Right now, I’m using some sage green yarn that she gave me to knit a basic rectangle. I think that I’ll turn it into a coffee cup “cozy” if I manage to actually do it right! :) I’d love to get good enough to make pretty dishcloths, and even down the road maybe I can make some hats for the kids. Carol started me off with some neat knitting supplies and two books to borrow. I’ve been checking those out. I put my name on the list for Ravelry, too. And yes, Kae, I *definitely* need to knit a little pair of pants for my carrot! LOL! :)
Tomorrow is going to be a crazy-busy day. In the morning at 9, I have my moms’ group meeting at our church. Then, it’s lunch on the road as I drive Lucas to preschool at 12:30. I pick him up early because the kids are doing a “Thankful Presentation” (complete with a surprise for the moms ~ I can’t wait to see what Lucas made!). Then, there’s a preschool parent advisory board meeting tomorrow night. I’m absolutely going to crash after that, I think.
Off to finish up some graphic design work ~ have a wonderful Monday, guys!
I miss crafting. It’s difficult to do while taking care of two small children. But not too long ago, I started thinking about something my friend Carol told me ~ that knitting doesn’t require pulling out a lot of supplies and that it’s something you can do while watching TV, hanging out with your family, waiting for appointments, etc. And there are *so* many bloggers out there who knit. Originally, though, I dismissed knitting because I didn’t think that I had time to learn something new ~ and I figured that I probably wouldn’t be too good at it (or patient enough). But a week or so ago, I started thinking about knitting more and more.
Saturday, I ran over to Wal-Mart to buy some new needles for our sewing machine (because crazily enough, I broke *three* of them while trying to sew a simple baby blanket!). I found some, then turned around ~ and guess what was behind me? Knitting supplies. Oh, the yarn! I found myself just staring at everything for the longest time ~ such beautiful colors! It was like looking at the various fabrics in the craft department ~ drooling over what I can possibly sew.
I’d heard several knitting friends mention Peaches & Cream yarn, so I checked that out. A color called “Earth Tone” caught my eye. But I thought, “I know absolutely *nothing* about this. I shouldn’t even look.” The yarn was so inexpensive, though! Then, I found myself walking over to the knitting needles. I saw some royal blue ones ~ size five, whatever that means! I said, “What the heck!” and took everything up to the checkout. But I felt such a twinge of excitement!
It kind of reminds me of my grandpa ~ he used to weave *gorgeous* handmade throws with acrylic yarn on his own handcrafted loom in his basement. And I remembered that a long time ago, my mom taught me how to knit ~ but I don’t remember a whole lot, and now I wish that I’d paid more attention! Anyway, I’m now the owner of a pair of blue size five knitting needles and two balls (uh, “skeins,” right?) of yarn. Last night, I managed to figure out how to do the long-tail cast on, but I can’t seem to get the first row started. It’s hard to even stick the right needle into the top stitch ~ way too tight. I know that ultimately, all of your stitches end up on the other needle ~ but that’s the point where I’m stuck. :( I’ve been checking out the website KnittingHelp.com.
Tomorrow, I’m heading over to Carol’s because she has graciously offered to help me get started. I can’t tell you how psyched I am to be starting a new craft! Maybe I could make some pretty washcloths to accompany my handmade soaps. Yay ~ I get to make things again! :)
Can you believe that the Christmas tree pictured on the right is made entirely from empty cans of Mountain Dew? My friend Cassandra in Minnesota sent me the e-mail forward with photos, and I couldn’t resist blogging it. I actually think that it looks kind of pretty! The two-liter bottle on top is such a nice touch! :) It looks like it probably took a long time to put together … there are wires soldered to the cans, and then somehow they’re hooked to the inner pole of the tree. I wonder how long it took for them to drink all of that Mountain Dew? Talk about a great way to recycle … and I’m sorry that I don’t know who created this Christmas tree, or I would give them proper credit here. (I hope that this isn’t a “hoax” ~ I probably should have checked out Snopes first!)
It’s almost 60 degrees here today. So nice! I went grocery shopping with the kiddos this morning (they were really good ~ yay!), then we took a walk around our neighborhood after lunch. (With the McDonalds that I ate yesterday, I needed some exercise ~ or some cheap diet pills, LOL!) Now that Meri is napping, I’m settling down to work some more on this quadricentennial calendar for our town. Later this afternoon, we’re picking up our next-to-last CSA share from the farm. Not sure what’s on tap for this weekend, but tomorrow I have to stop by our neighbor’s house to pick up something ~ and I’ll get to enjoy some “me time” on Sunday. We also have the Netflix movie “Kung Fu Panda” to watch. Happy Friday, everyone! :)
We have a friend who built a new home several years ago and created a home theater room. From the pictures that we’ve seen, it totally looks like a movie theater. He installed a movie theater curtain, home theater carpeting, the works. There aren’t any windows in that room, either! I wonder whether he has a popcorn machine, too? LOL! :) Anyway, I can’t wait to get a new flat-screen TV for our bonus room someday so that we can create a home theater area, too. (We already have one in our living room, but we want to have an area upstairs, too.) We’ll put our corner entertainment center someplace else and create a U-shaped seating area in front of the flat-screen (with a coffee table in the middle). It’ll look *so* nice and will be a great place for watching movies. We’ll definitely need to put up some curtains in our bonus room, though, so that we can shut out the sunlight during movie watching. (And considering that we have eight windows in our bonus room, that will be expensive!) Have you seen any good movies lately? We just watched “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” the other night, and we also have “Ironman” waiting for us. Before that, we watched “Mad Money.” We’ve had a little bit of a problem with some of our Netflix movies getting stuck and “freezing” ~ so annoying! I guess that it’s because the DVDs are handled so much. I want to put “Kung Fu Panda” on our Netflix queue soon because I think that the kids would really enjoy it!
I’ve been battling a nasty virus for the past three days. That’s why I haven’t been on the computer in a while ~ I literally couldn’t see straight to look at the computer screen. Thank goodness I’m finally starting to feel better now! My nurse practitioner friend told me that this particular virus mimicks the flu but actually attacks your inner ear ~ hence the reason why I felt like I had the flu but my head also felt incredibly strange. Now I know what it feels like to have a migraine. Worst headache I’ve ever had in my entire life. With both of my ears screwed up, I threw up quite a few times because my equilibrium was off. So, I spent a lot of time lying down with my eyes closed. I started sipping water last night and continued throughout the night, and I also took allergy medicine to help fix my ears. That worked great, because when I woke up this morning, my head/vision wasn’t all funky anymore. My head still hurts, but I’m thankful to be able to eat and drink now and actually get up and move around. So that’s where I’ve been lately … just wanted to let you know!
I’d intended this morning to write a blog entry about our weekend trip to Cobourg, Ontario, for our friend Chuck’s wedding. But instead, I need to complain. (Here’s one picture, though ~ a family portrait that our friend Matt took in Victoria Park near the beach. So pretty!)
My head feels *so* freaking strange right now! I don’t know what’s going on, and it’s kind of weirding me out. It feels like I’ve downed a bunch of Nyquil or enjoyed way too many glasses of wine, but there’s also a headache feeling. Sometimes when I move around (walking up and down the stairs, bending down and then standing up, etc.), it’s like it takes my head a while to “catch up.” I know that I’m not describing it well. I think that I feel basically fine other than that. But … maybe it’s from the cold/flu that I had last week? I’m still trying to get over it. On Saturday and Sunday during our trip, my body ached *all* over and I felt pretty crappy. I was shivering at times, too. Thank goodness I was able to take a nap with Meredith on Saturday. I just kept popping Tylenol and didn’t tell anyone about how I was feeling, though, because I wanted to hang out with our friends and have fun discovering a new place. I did OK, and I do feel better than I did, but I feel like I’m in a fog today. I don’t feel lightheaded like I’m going to pass out, but my head does feel like a balloon filled with helium.
Well, enough venting. I know that you don’t want to hear about my aches and pains. I just hope that it gets better soon. Hopefully it’s just a sinus thing left over from this cold/flu bug and nothing serious. I’ve uploaded all of our Canada pictures to Flickr if you’re interested in taking a look (there aren’t *too* many). We had fun! Recap to come!
“Autumn wears her leaves like jewelry.” ~Author unknown
I couldn’t resist venturing out into the chilly air this morning and snapping some pictures of the beautiful fog. It was gorgeous ~ so calm and serene. Fall has truly arrived here!
Plans for today: finish my freelance editing assignment, clean, and prepare for our trip this weekend. Exciting, huh? I entered our destination into MapQuest, and it said that it’ll take us seven hours to get to our friend’s wedding. Yuck! I was thinking that it would be a much shorter trip! I hate being in the car for so long. But, I’m sure that the drive will be *very* pretty with all of the autumn colors. We’ll see what the GPS says, though. I can’t wait to take pictures while we’re there!
If you wouldn’t mind ~ and if you have a chance today ~ could you please send some prayers, best wishes, healing energies, etc. to our good friend Vicky? I know that she needs them and would *really* appreciate get-well thoughts right now. She was admitted to the hospital yesterday morning with severe pain on her side. The doctors have conducted lots of tests, of course, and hopefully the next update that we receive will be a positive one. I felt sad this morning when I opened my e-mail and saw a message from our friend Natalie saying that Vicky was in the hospital. Definitely not a fun weekend for them. :( Vicky and Natalie used to be our neighbors when we moved to New York and lived in our first apartment, and they have become family to us.
After hearing that news, my little head cold doesn’t seem so bad. I haven’t slept well the last few nights because my nose is totally congested, and breathing through my mouth is annoying. I’m sure that I can take some type of cold medicine that won’t interfere with my anxiety medication, but I’m probably just going to “ride it out” instead. I’m one big ball of snot, and Meredith is, too. Lucas seems to have gotten over it for the most part. Jeff and the kids are at church this morning.
We’re *so* proud of how well Lucas did at his preschool open house yesterday morning. But here’s the thing ~ no Pull-Ups are allowed! Actually, this last week, Lucas has expressed an interest in wearing undies ~ so we bought him some more at the store (“Cars,” of course!). He’s had a few accidents, which is to be expected. But I think that he’s going to be OK. It was *so* cute how his teacher had a tiny coat rack especially for him with his name above it, and then his name is also listed under “March” on a birthday wall calendar in the classroom. In the corner where the “classroom tree” is, his name is also printed on a leaf. He did *so* well playing with the other kids, and preschool is *all* he talks about these days. Excited is an understatement! His stuffed friend Blue can’t come with him, though, and that’s going to be tough. September 23rd is Lucas’s turn to bring a snack for the entire class, and it’s also his very first “show-and-tell day.” I joked that he’ll probably want to bring Meredith and proudly show his classmates how he has scratched her up and down. LOL! :)
Oh, and if anyone wants to buy some Yankee Candle stuff … the parents were sent home with a fundraising packet. Can you believe that? Fundraising for preschool? I didn’t realize that stuff started *so* early! I would have expected it for elementary or high school. At least it’s *good* things that I really enjoy (and we don’t have to sell cheap jewelry, Schlage door knobs, or something else strange like that). Now I know what we’ll be giving for birthday and Christmas gifts this year, LOL! :)
