Out my window.

Awhile back while driving up the 57, I had to take this photo out the window. (I was in the passenger side.) This is the one time of year the hillsides are pretty. I love these yellow flowers. I refuse to call them weeds. Though, if they took over my yard, I'm sure I'd think differently.

I had M pull over to get a better shot. Here's a bit closer. Aren't they just so light and airy.

And check out my car knitting. It totally matches. Of course I didn't see that until I was home and looking at the photos on Picasa. But, I did like the folds of the green in my lap so I took a shot. This is my 2nd hat. I'm almost done...so I'll felt these soon.

And here's a close up of the bloom. Happy Friday!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Sweet!

M went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park on Saturday with his dad. When they got back to our place, my FIL took these FO shots for me. So much easier than taking pictures of your own feet!!! And, he knows what he's doing with aperture and such. I love these socks. And...I love Picasa. I'll have to figure out how to explain this better. But for now...I download photos...then can use Picasa to crop...with out opening Photoshop...then hit the Blogthis button. SWEET! Give it a try if you Google.

***ETA. Jaywalkers in Austermann Step
Started: January 1, 2008
Finished: April 19, 2008

Modifications: I did a Slip, K2tog, PSSO instead of the described dd.

Picasa

Who knew it could be so easy? I'm trying out Picasa for loading photos. These are my finished Jaywalkers. Full post to follow.

PTL!

My tooth popped out in one piece...and the whole thing including the shots and waiting for them to take effect, couldn't have taken more than a 10 minutes. I'd brought my Jaywalker with me in case I had to wait. But, while I didn't have a chance to knit, my sock became quite the topic. All the ladies came in to see this sock. And while holding the one OTN that's about to be kitchenered, someone mentioned that she'd like socks without the toes...and I said there are patterns for those...Pedicure Socks. Anyways, as soon as I can count, those socks will be done. I just need to kitchener the toe on the second sock...but I can't remember at what point I stopped on sock one. I've probably only got another 2-4 rows...so these will be a FO soon.

Ok...I'm going to go hug my boys. They just came home from the Angel's game with M. 2 is off spending the night with Grandma so I can rest.

Dorothy tagged me.

1) Link to the person who tagged you.
2) Post the rules.
3) Share six non-important things / habits / quirks about yourself.
4) Tag at least three people.
5) Be sure the people you tagged KNOW you tagged them by commenting what you did.

Stuff about me:

I traveled to Russia and China before I was married. Now I'm scared to get on an airplane. It's not about dying, it's more of a claustrophobic -they closed & locked that door- way.

I just found out last week what my dad said when M asked for permission to marry me. "What took you so long?" I'd kind of heard that before, but I didn't know the background. My dad asked M to go to breakfast with him. Then he had to ask again 6 months later. The 2nd time M was ready and asked for permission. That's when my dad explained all the prior opportunities he had given M. Guess he thought we should get the show on the road. We dated for 5 years before we married, but we wanted to be out of college before we married. And M was waiting until he had the ring and a job that could support us both before he proposed. =0)

I haven't touched snow since I broke my arm my sophomore year in high school. It's not that I won't, but just that I've not had the chance.

I just saw these. And I think I Have To Have THEM. I had the cutest pair when I was in Kindergarten that had red pom poms with a bit of green to look like strawberries. I wore them with my Strawberry Shortcake shirt.

My FAVORITE lipsticks right now Apple Berry, Berry Kiss, and Whipped Berries. I just bought this Berry yarn. See the trend.

I heart IKEA. For many reasons! Tonight I served my family their meatballs for dinner. It's an easy staple for our house. I've bought as many as 10 bags of the frozen meatballs before. In all fairness I was hosting a party and was serving some of the meatballs for that dinner. But, we do eat them a lot. My Swedish Gram even stopped making her own meatballs after an IKEA was built in Emeryville.

Now...tag at least 3 people. Well, I'm going to be medicated tomorrow, so I'll just post this now...but I really can't even think of 3 people, and I've got the kids brushing their teeth...so I'm off to tell a story. M thought he'd be at Bible Study...but instead he's working late. At least he has a job. (I forgot...I haven't mentioned this hear...while things aren't better at work, they're at least stable, and he's staying put for our heath benefits. He'll only go when they make him an offer to leave.) Anyways. If you read this consider yourself tagged. Please let me know in the comments so I can go read your 6 things. I love knowing strange facts about people. =0)

If the drugs are fun tomorow...then I might be out photographing my yard for a Friday Flower. If not, Happy Weekend.

Before I forget...

I want to post before I forget things. But, this week I've had a hard time getting my thoughts to the computer. I think part of it is that I'm having a hard time putting words to some of my thoughts.

I've been reading a lot. I guess that's partly where all my time is going. The women in our Sunday School class started Sacred Rhythms. We meet on alternating Thursdays (the men meet on the other Thursdays). I'm really excited about this. It seems to fit where I'm at right now.

I started reading Confessions of an Irritable Mother. Awhile back I read IM's post on Brokenness...and cried...and sent her an email...and she sent me the book. How sweet is that! So, I'm reading through this too. And this has made me pull out my copy of 31 Days of Praise. OH, how I needed that.

This is a busy week. I don't like busy weeks. I wish life could be at a much slower pace. But, today I renewed our library books on-line because I didn't have time to go to the library. Tomorrow morning is MOPS. I'll have to rush the kids to get them to finish breakfast on time. I hate doing that. Then we have a park day with other homeschoolers in the afternoon. On Wednesday I teach our co-op about Russia. Then we have piano in the afternoon. On Thursday, M will be away at the Men's group so I'll have to convince the kids they need to sleep on my own. And then on Friday, I'm having a tooth pulled! YIKES! And in the afternoon our samples for this month are due. Friday's the real reason I think this is a busy week.

(Now I fully realize that most families have busier lives than this. But
last year, I read 2 books that changed my life...Breathe and Margin. I
realized that I didn't feel well because I was hurried. And I didn't want
my kids to grow up hurried...I didn't want to be yelling at them to get in the
car when they saw no reason to hurry...they were laying on the driveway watching
a rolly polly. And I decided that I wanted them to be able to do that for
as long as they could...they're only little once.)

So, this busy week...is mostly busy just in my mind. I'm busy worrying about having my tooth pulled. At this point, there really is no other option. I saw my endodontist today, and while he probably could save it, just trying to fit the little mirror that far back in my mouth was a challenge. So. 9:45AM. FRIDAY. Pray that the tooth comes out in one piece. That's the difference between this procedure taking 5 minutes or much longer. And while my mind is busy...I'll be knitting, but probably not posting much this week.

Hopefully, when I get back to my computer, I'll remember to post about my Clappy, my Jaywalkers, my trip to Wildfiber (my new yarn is up on Ravelry already), and my thoughts about brokenness...before I forget what it feels like to be RIGHT HERE.

I wish every day could be like this.

I can't believe all 3 of my kids are still sleeping. I think this is the latest they've slept in in a long time. It's almost 8am! I've had a full cup of coffee and some reading time before being bombarded with a zillion questions. I wish every day could be like this.

Now of course, saying that means something will go wrong to make me take that back. At least I can say...Every Morning Should Be Like This!

Knitwise: I'm still knitting away on my Clapotis. I thought since the KAL deadline was extended that I'd try to finish. It's longer, but there's still so much to knit. How are some of these finished so quickly? Does it come down to yarn choice? I love the way mine curls around itself. I'm happy with the stockinette side or the reverse. Both fascinate me! Maybe that's why I'm not finishing. I'm distracted by petting the knitting.

Healthwise: I met with an oral surgeon yesterday. I have scheduled an appointment to pull the tooth. I really think that I can handle 1 appointment better than 5 right now. I do feel a little 'redneck' though for just pulling a tooth. We lived in TX when we were little, and my brother and I always joke about our 'redneck' roots. Of course, he's the one with car parts on the lawn, and shotguns. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then listen to some Jeff Foxworthy. In all seriousness though, I'm just a little scared that this could be a chain reaction. It is a possibility that the neighboring teeth could loosen. I've been encouraged by my Gram. She wore dentures as far back as I could remember. I confirmed this with my Gramp. She got them soon after her 3rd child. Technology wasn't what it is today. And they wouldn't have had the money even if they could have saved the teeth. The part that encourages me...She Had The MOST BEAUTIFUL SMILE EVER. And that's because a smile comes from your heart and not your teeth.

OK...I hear talking. I'm off to serve breakfast to the 6, 5, and almost 3!

The Yard...part 1

Beth asked to see my GIANT Bird of Paradise. To be honest, I'd been thinking of doing some cute sketches for documentation of our yard. I saw this here last year. And I know I could totally do that. And M has done a fantastic job on our yard...but you know how all time seems to get sucked up. Well, I may do those sketches one day. But for now...here's the left side of our driveway. We don't have a huge yard...those are hard to come by in So.Cal...and our house is little too. But, I like it. We've made it ours. The BoP was the only thing there when we moved in. And those things are like icebergs...more under the surface than you see above. The only way that thing is moving is with a bulldozer. (Can you see how it hides my Expedition? I actually had to move so you could see the tail end of it.) So, since it was staying, I chose oranges and purples for the plants surrounding the BoP. That salmon geranium is definitely a favorite. Just below the flax there is some white trailing lantana and statice. To the left of the BoP are 2 Pampas grass...just right now they're trimmed back. I like that this grouping hides us from the street. When our butterfly bush fills in, I'll take a photo of the right side of the driveway...and then move into the backyard. It's time to start visiting the local arboretum too. Hopefully soon we'll have some new blooms.

Work In Progress

Right now, it's more than my knitting that's a WIP.

I'm clinging to this verse. Philippians 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

I know that I'm a work in progress. And I trust that He won't leave me like this. I've finally recovered from my root canal on #10 and my cracked filling on #4 and another filling on #3. Only to discover today that I had a tooth ache on #15. I've thought of this before, but with the constant needs of the little ones, I must have pushed it to the back of my mind. Today I couldn't. I went in for a quick 15 minute check with my dentist, and sure enough I've got more decisions to make. Another root canal and crown, or an extraction with a possible implant. Sheesh. I'm resting in the fact that HE is God and I am not. He sees the other side of the tapestry, while I only see the knotted threads. (Kind of like the backside of some knitting.) I'm going where I always go when I need to see an example of a woman who trusted God in hard times...Corrie ten Boom...Elizabeth Elliot...Amy Carmichael. And of course my Bible. Where do you go when you need some encouragement? I've recently read some blogs (I won't link them, but if they read here I think they know who they are.) that are such candles in the darkness. They are evidence of victory. Normally, I would hide my pains. I'm too much of a perfectionist to let anyone see a chip in my armor. But lately, I feel that I must talk about my journey. If anyone is to see the miracle in me that comes, then they'll have to know where I came from. I trust that my character is being developed for a purpose...

Knitwise: My WIP list is...

K2: camo version for 6. This kid would live in camo clothing only if I let him. So he chose this olive and chocolate combo from my stash.


I thought I'd try brioche stitch for the ribbing, because I have Weekend Knitting, and there's a hat there with 2 color brioche. It turned out not to be the effect I wanted. I remember Peggy mentioning Corrugated Ribbing. I had to google to figure that out, but that was what I was looking for. This is my first attempt at 2 color knitting. It's not as hard as I thought it might be. But I made a mistake while on vicodin with the cable crosses and had to rip out 4 rows. So, that's why there are no needles in the photo. I've got it back OTN now. And I added this to help me count to 4.

I had bought that little marker for my Lily. I guess I need more than one. So, the Lily is on hold until I finish the hat.

I need to send an email to see what happened to my #5 tip that I had ordered. Then I can get back to my square cake.

I've been trying to knit on my Clapotis every day. I've dropped 12 times. I still don't think I'll make it for the KAL deadline of tax day.

I CO for another felted hat right while on ativan for the root canal. I should have taken care of the 15 rows with shaping before the drugs. There are a few times where I only K 1 row in between the decrease rows. I'm glad to see that I didn't drop stitches or anything worse. I think it will still be cute. I CO for this hat with the green wool from my cocoa pal. The pattern is from my FFBE pal.
I've already knit one in blue for 2, but since my washing machine was acting up, I've waited to felt it. Now, I think I'll felt both hats together.