We're all winners!

M left 7 hours ago. He is traveling with a small carry on for his personal items and my large travel backpack as his checked luggage filled with dried fruit, tea, chocolate chips, baking cocoa, corn tortillas, jello, stickers, hot wheels, parachute men, and HANDKNITS! I just have to say thank you again to those who helped out. I pray that God will bless you for your generous hearts. I needed to use 2 models for this photoshoot. I just had to have a pic with 2 of my kiddos in matching hats.

I did draw a winner, but I've decided to send something small to all the kind knitters who sent M something. Just one problem...in the packing frenzy, I seem to have lost the return address labels I'd saved so I could mail a prize. Could you all (you know who you are) email me your mailing address? Terrie, 5 drew your name out of the glass and you'll get the prize I picked up in Northern CA while on vacation. We ended up with 10 hats, 10 cloths, 3 purses, and 2 scarf/cowls. It will be at least 2 weeks before I have a report about the new home for these items, but I can tell you now they're on a plane over the Atlantic.

*****

So the evening I typed this M had just left and he was en route to Paris. They changed planes there for the rest of the flight to Africa. I thought I could finish this post, but I ended up falling asleep and the post was stuck in draft. Those 10 days M was in Africa taught me how hard being a single parent really is! The 2nd day started with taking 5 to the Urgent Care for an ear infection. She had been up all night the previous night. The routine with the kids and doing the house clean-up at night meant that I didn't even check my email until 10pm each day. (I usually check in the am, after lunch, and after the kids bedtime.) 8 walks in his sleep, although usually only when stressed. He was up 4 times while M was gone. He's 4'8" and 85#! It's hard for me to get him back to bed when he's not awake. We did make it through the week, but I thought I'd make it to the post office too and that just didn't happen.

Mike arrived home with a bug. Stuff like that is bound to happen when you visit countries where the water isn't safe. The jet lag combined with the bug had him falling asleep at 3pm and when he was awake he was only 50% here. He is better now, but it took a week and a half. I'm finally finding my out of the piles of things around here. I have my packages ready and I'll get to the P.O. as soon as they're addressed.

DARE

My husband has issued a DARE. He's going out of the country in early September on a missions trip. He'll be in a mountain region. It gets cold there in the winter. He'd like to bring hats and/or washcloths and/or scarves and/or fingerless mitts. For Men. Women. & Children. He thinks that if I put out a request on my blog...knitted things will start to show up here. I know he's right. I just don't know how many knitted things I'll actually be able to acquire in 45 days. There will be prizes for knitted items sent. I'll figure that out later. Maybe M will buy some fancy yarn from that foreign land. Or maybe I'll get M to take me to Wildfiber to pick out a prize. Hm... I've still got lots to figure out, but I do want to prove the tenacity of knitters to my hubby. Can you show him what you can do? Leave me a comment or send me an email.

Prizes

This post is so overdue. Much like my library books. It's a good thing they don't charge a fine for overdue children's books at my library. I'm not checking out adult books until my life is in better order...that may be never.

Nearly forever ago, I entered a contest on Chan's blog and won the purple grand prize. October was quite a month for us. I finally quit my night job at the craft store to focus on being a wife/mom/homeschooler. M & I celebrated our 10th anniversary. He was laid off just 1 week shy of his 1 year with the company and just days after my last day. We remembered the 2nd anniversary of my dad's passing. In some ways, I feel like I've been holding my breath since October. Let's forget about the not breathing...and focus on one of the gifts I've been given. They have encouraged me more than you can know. Thank you Chan, Jessi, Piddleloop girls, Nicole and Anita. The fact that this prize is a gathering of the knitting community is not lost on me.

Clockwise from the yarn. 2 skeins of Get Ewe Done Sport Merino in “Haddon Wood’s Princess of Joy”. Bag from Piddleloop -my first. A tin with 2 stitch markers (included with the yarn). Stitch Markers from Lapdog Creations. And a tape measure from Anita. I'm so enjoying this prize. Here's a close up of the yarn.

And here's the WIP. I've already started the lace portion of this shawl. This is the larger Ishbel. The color here is pretty accurate.

I've had to let this project rest, so I haven't worked on it since we got home from Napa. I'm busy knitting hats in hope that my kids will see snow for the FIRST TIME EVER!

Both! ...answers to the contest

Bonus points if you know where we were by this sign.

The first piece was created by a pendulum. Some of you were right that spirograph draws repeated curves over a distance (often in a circle). Because of the pendulum, the complex curves here get smaller and smaller.

Here's a link to a YouTube I uploaded. It was a big file, so I'm not even trying to embed it. The black cylinder with a handle is a weight that you can move to change the way the pendulum reacts.

The second piece was mold. There was some mold/fungus sandwiched between pieces of glass. There were flaps you could lift so you could see the different colors of mold determined by if the mold was exposed to light or not. I didn't get a photo explaining this one.

The third piece was Sun Painting. This was one of my favorites. The photo I showed is of a wall about 12 feet tall and 20 feet wide. There were prisms and reflectors for this display. It was a fantastic sunny day, so I'm sure we we saw a treat.

Our family really enjoyed our day at the Exploratorium this summer. I would so love to go back. Other homeschooling moms might enjoy this website. There's tons of great information on their Learning Resource Collection.

And about the contest. Since no one got all the exhibits right, I'll have to just draw from all who left a comment on that post. I'm having 4 roll a dice for the winner...

And the winner is.... comment #2! And Miss Me...your answers were the most correct. I'll be sending something off to you soon. Well, I'll try for soon, but this is my blog and I'll reserve the right to get to the USPS as soon as I can.

It's Monday alright.

Contestwise: no one is 100% right yet. I'll go with a random drawing if there is no better answer tomorrow.

Kidwise: Took 4 into the Urgent Care yesterday after she was up all night Saturday night with an earache. They said it's not infected yet. She did sleep better last night, but the cough is worse. Hopefully she'll clear out of this in time for art.

Momwise: My house is the cleanest it's been in a long time. We're redoing our loan, and the appraiser is taking photos today. You can bet that snapped us into a 'fall cleaning' mode. There's still work to do, but for today I'm happy. I'll probably take some photos for myself as proof it can be this clean. The kids are instructed not to take anything out before she comes at noon today. And, lunches are packed for the kids so I can shoo them into the backyard to eat at the picnic table while the appraiser works.

Knitwise: Ishbel it is. I looked a bit more around ravelry to see if I could find something where I would use more of the yardage...but Ysolda's design won. I am having problems with the YO's matching on both sides so I read in the Ishbel Forum a link to this post that explains why I had the problem I did...and how to fix it. I'll frog back my 20 rows and fix that after the appraiser today...I'll deserve a break by then.

Menu Plan Monday (my first time linking)

Monday

B: bagles

L: lunchbox

D: roast & red potatoes

Tuesday

B: French Toast (F-week)

L: Muffin Tin Monday...since we were busy on Monday

D: Crock Pot Lasagna (first time I'm trying this...so I'll let you know if it's good)

Wednesday:

B: English Muffins

L: freezer burritos (I made these...I might just write about it later)

D: Chicken Kisses

Thursday

B: French Toast

L: Turkey Sandwiches

D: Tortilla Soup

Friday...it's a big day...it's our 10th anniversary.

B: eggs & biscuits

L: Peanut Butter Sandwiches

D: Brisket & Oven Fries & Gravenstein Apple Pie (M's been wanting to smoke something again since the ribs he made on Labor Day. I bought him a brisket. It's 10#. I figure that's a good 10th anniversary gift since we're 'not really' buying each other gifts...we bought new bedding together at the end of summer...that's our gift to each other.)

Is is Science or is it ART?

Can you figure out how each of these 'pieces' was created?

I might just have to send out a prize if someone gets all 3 correct. Hmmm...I wonder what I have to give as a prize? Bonus points if you know where I was when I took these photos. Answers coming at the beginning of the week.

WIP and a contest.

Where have I been? Mostly just home or at work, but SO BUSY that my computer time has been zilch. I'm checking emails and keeping up with my google calendar, but I wasn't even downloading my photos. I just had to get this up. There's a contest over at Scout's Swag. And she wants to know what your WIP is. I'm working with some of her yarn...and LOVING IT...so I had to post this.

I was taking photos of my kids in the yard when my yarn arrived. I took photos of the skein, and then when I saw them in the viewer...right next to the Bird of Paradise...I gasped. The yarn was a perfect match. These are now my BoP socks. I can't wait to wear them. Now, this wasn't what Scout had in mind when she dyed the yarn, but I'm sure she'll love the collage.

 

And I have 6 posts in draft. They just need photos or text. I never seem to get both going on the same day. I'm going to get back to regular posting real soon. I miss this outlet...and I might go crazy during the holiday season if I can't let some of it out.

WOW HITS!

For the last 5 Christmas'. Maybe longer. I've gotten the WOW Hits CD from my MIL. This has to be one of my favorite gifts. I have a 3-disk changer in the living room, and it's always WOW CD's in there. I've learned that music makes such a difference in my day.

Psalm 121

¹ I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?

² My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;

⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;

⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

And how do I keep my eyes on the Lord??? Especially when I'm headed back to the endodontist on the 11th for my 11th root canal? Well for me, music makes all the difference. This has been a rough year in my life. And I know that without HOPE of HEAVEN, I'd find myself crawling back into bed many days and trying to escape the harshness of this world. Music helps me to take my eyes off this world...and keep them on the eternity.

So, check out WOW HITS if you've never listened to this before. You might be surprised by how the words speak to your soul.

This post comes to you because of a fabulous contest over at Rocks In My Dryer. But, really...I love this music...and some of the songs I've linked to before are from this CD. So, I'd be telling ya about this even if it weren't for the contest. Well, maybe not an entire post...but still...go listen.

Come on down...

You're the next contestant on the Price is Right...Sorry...feeling a bit silly today =0) I closed the contest and drew names (can't do anything in my house if we don't do 3). I just haven't had time to post. Send me an email with your addresses (my email is on the profile page)....

And the GRAND PRIZE WINNER!

I love those little fingers. Each kid drew a different winner in the contest. But in my book...we're all winners every time we focus on THANKFULNESS! Now I'm off to decorate for Christmas. I can't wait to start the Christmas music...but I always wait until the day after Thanksgiving.

Can I really have a contest?

I was just enjoying my coffee and bloglines with a side of ravelry this morning, and thinking of all this year has brought. I knew that my blogiversary must have been close...or just passed...but it's TODAY. I only posted once in 2006, and didn't really start until January, so I was just going to let this slip by...but now that I'm here I can't.

I love what blogging has been for me. I'm so happy to write my thoughts. I love meeting knitters. They're an amazing bunch. Before I met knit bloggers I would have never imagined that 'friends' send yarn and hugs (sometimes just because). So, today...as I'm off to my Dad's memorial (or rather this morning I'm trying to avoid the thoughts)...I'm having a contest.

It's November, a season of Thanksgiving. This weekend we celebrate our Veterans. May dad, his dad, my mother's father, my FIL, M's grandfather, my cousin...and so many more. I'm so thankful for my freedom...and I'm thankful for the men and women who protect that every day. As Thanksgiving approaches, we'll listen to this CD at our house again. And, I'll be overwhelmed at what our ancestors gave for our liberties.

So, leave me a comment. Send me your friends. I want to know what you're THANKFUL for. I think reading our thankfulness will strengthen and encourage me as this season will be hard without my dad.

If I get a lot of comments, then I'll leave this open until Thanksgiving (American). And then I'll come up with some prize...just today I don't have a plan.