I'm Officially.....

FREAKING OUT!!!!

We just talked with the neighbors who are buying this property. We have to be off the land either the 20th or maybe with some luck the 27th.

Our new place isn't ready yet, and Christmas is right around the corner. I htought we'd have until the New Year to get moved. Now it's crunch time.

We have friends that live on a huge ranch that said that if we needed to, we could stay in their extra cabin. But I really don't want to move 2 times in 2 weeks.

Ughh.We'll be fine. Mike's all cool, it's just that I'm freaking out. So pray for me please.

Advent

Today we decided to finally go outside and look for some greenery for a wreath, an advent wreath. Yes, I know, that started last Sunday, but you just have to understand our family. Sometimes we forget what day it even is. So, Advent totally snuck up on us. I celebrated it for a few years as a kid. But Mike and I have never yet celebrated it together.

I have a lot of fond memories of advent. The magical feeling that something huge was about to take place. My dad read the devotionals and we lit the candles. I wonder why candles make everything so much more wondrous. I kept the stories close to my heart.

My mom was smart and got us kids involved in the preparation for Christs birth. We filled shoe boxes with slivers of paper. Every sliver of paper was given to us after every act of kindness or obedience. We needed to ensure that on Christmas, when Jesus was born, he would have a softly lined manger to be laid in.--Good on ya mom!

Here we are, walking around the vast property here. I had to snap a few with me and the kids.

Caleb was going to take a picture of me and Mike, and as we squatted down to avoid the 'chin' picture, Mike barely brushed up against me and I fell on my back. It was quite humorous. Cay was right there with the camera. Here Mike is helping me off the ground.

This is nice.

And finally our Advent wreath, all covered in moss and pine cones. It's the first wreath I've ever made. I don't think it looks too shabby.

For starters

I decided to dig out some older works since my camera batteries are dead and my charger is hidden in a box, anticipating our move.

#1 This is some sport weight merino I dyed about 1 yr ago.














#2 This here is one of the two hand dyed worsted merino. They will soon become legwarmers.

#3 Here is yarn that I spun into a worsted weight yarn, then I dyed it. You'll see in the next post the fingerless mitts I made for my youngest son.

#4 This also was spun and dyed by me. This became fingerless mitts for my oldest son, and a friend.

#5 This is my hand spun lace weight. Also hand dyed by me.

#6 I bought a beautiful roving at a wool festival back in Oct. I think it cost me about $6 for a couple of ounces. It's so soft. I spun this into a worsted weight also. This will make beautiful fingerless mitts, or a headband for me.

#7This is a picture of the mitts I made for a friend.

#8 These are sock I made for Noah last summer. He's growing so fast, he's almost outgrown them. They've been his favorite socks, and they've held up quite well.





#9 I knit this shawl out of Lorna's Laces (my favorite) sock yarn. It's so awesome. It was my first lace project. My knit group back in Cincinnati did it as a 'knit along'.

#10 My hand spun soy silk. DK weight I would say.


#11 hand dyed sock yarn-red

#12 hand dyed sock yarn-purple.

I have so much more to share, but I thought this would whet your appetite for more.

...Off to find my camera battery charger......

Painting with Kids

I don't know about you, but the visual imagery that phrase gives me.... well, it might be construed as child abuse.

I picture these poor little kids being held by these big old burly men. They're dipping the little girls head in a bucket of bright yellow paint. It's covering her whole face. Can she breathe? Oh, look, their painting a bright yellow stripe on a brick wall with her head! What? There's another guy. He's got a poor little boy with short spiky hair. This kid's been dipped in green paint. They're making polka dots with him.

I don't know why this strikes me the way it does. But maybe the author (or editor at that) should be a little more aware of what they're conveying when they title their books. I honestly didn't think, at first, that it was going to be a book about teaching kids to paint. It seriously sounded like they wanted you to use the poor kids as the instruments in which to paint with.


Now, you're beginning to see what makes me tick. Scary isn't it?

I'm GREEN!!

...with envy.





I just found out that it's snowing in Canada. Pretty soon it will be snowing in the mid-west (my old stomping grounds).

This will be my second winter in the temperate redwood rain forest of Northern California. Here it stays about 45 degrees F and rains constantly in the winter. Now if you're lucky enough to live up one of the various mountainous roads around here you might just get some snow around February. Even then it doesn't last. I'm really going to miss it.

I like the snow. I've never been afraid to drive in it. I looove walking in it. I love waking up in the middle of the night to great big snowflakes blanketing the ground while the moonlight shines brightly down on it. The ambient light reflecting off the snow gives me a sense of inner peace and calm. Like all is well with the world and it's been washed clean. The ice coats the bare tree limbs like a crystal sleeve. The snow muffles loud echoing noises to a dull hum and it crunches softly around your feet.

Do you remember the sound of your sled sliding over the frozen ground on your way to your favorite sledding area? When you get there you're so pleased to find that you're the first one of the day. You hop on your sled all bundled up in your snow overalls, coat, hat, scarf and mitts ready for a full day of riding. As you go careening down 'Dead Man's Hill' you make the first tracks. There's such a sense of satisfaction running through your body. You're invigorated to go again. This time you go faster in the newly made tracks and so you go a bit farther. You lean to the right to avoid the tree on the left and pass into a little pathway between the trees. Yes, you almost made it the the edge of the bank of the frozen creek.

Up the hill once again. On your sled, down you fly, smiling so big the frigid air seems to freeze your teeth. You don't care, you're going so fast that you just might make it this time. Down the hill you go, through the trees and you made it! You sled right on over the edge of the 2 foot bank and onto the frozen creek. It's so slick, you continue to slide almost to the other side. It's the coolest sled ride in history. So, you'll finish up your day trying to recreate the 'best ride ever'.

It's time to go home. Mom has some hot chocolate with marshmallows ready for you in your favorite mug. You strip down just inside the door and mom goes and warms up your sweats in the dryer. Sitting warmly dressed at the kitchen table you're regaining the feeling in your extremities, you thank God. You have a nice warm house, clothes and food. It's good to come in from the cold.

I have nothing but good memories of the snow. My only regret to living in CA right now is that my kids won't be able to make these same sorts of memories. Then again, I don't have many memories of the beach.

An ode to towels

Okay, I'll admit it. I'm addicted. I know, the first stage to recovery and all that.

I love the smell that comes out of the dryer vent outside the house. The warm fresh smell of clean clothes...blankets.......ahhhh.....towels. There's nothing better than a big, fluffy, warm towel to wrap up in after a hot shower in the middle of winter.

A towel is such a great thing. It's good for wiping up spills, drying off after a shower or bath. It's good for drying dishes or your hands. Towels are even good for laying out on the carpet so the kids don't make a mess while they eat a snack and watch a cartoon on the laptop while you half consciously lay on the couch succumbing to mental fatigue and a near migraine headache.

Towels are even great as far as laundry goes. They wash very easily and loft up so nice and soft when they're dry. A towel is so much easier to fold than anything else. I, myself have mastered the 'department store' style towel tri-fold.

This winter the weather will beat at your door and the cold will be seeping through the cracks. Just remember that one of life's small pleasures is being able to reach out and grab that clean, fresh towel off the shelf and surround yourself in it's fluffy goodness.

I'll just call this one #1

The point of this blog is mainly to spit out what seems to me to be unimportant topics of conversation.


I often have random thoughts swarming around in my head for brief periods of time every day. Once one is exhausted a new one takes its place. They are thoughts that I don't usually bring up in conversation. I think that if I did the person I was speaking to would look at me and say, 'why are you telling me this?' And frankly if the roles were reversed and I wasn't as polite as I am, I would probably say the same.


So, solely for my benefit, in hopes of a clearer frame of mind, I'm going to inflict upon the WWW all that clutters my head.