May slipped away

If I had to remember the past month, it would be filled with sunshine, rainfall, new flowers, garden planting and the first splashes in the baby pool. We are outdoor-people, to say the least!
Backyard camping, a summer ritual in our house, was revived last weekend. Daddy and the little lady made it through the night in the tent, but Mommy and big stuff retreated into the house.



We are busily planning a trip to Disney World this summer (a surprise to the children in the house), and half of my excitement is deciding what knitting project to take along in the car. Disney socks, maybe? Possibly........

I've been busy updating the Etsy shop as well, and delighted with the positive feedback I've received from so many nice ladies. Etsy is such a fun place to call community. Have a great week everyone!

Where did April go!?

This month has really flown by! Once we made it through all of the early April showers, we're on the down slide into beautiful May! I love this time of year--flowers are blooming, birds are chirping early in the morning, and morels on popping up. I took the little lady out with me mushroom hunting for the first time Saturday and discovered that she just doesn't have it in her blood like Mommy. Not yet, anyway. We didn't find any mushrooms yet, but I haven't given up on this season, or her. I'll make a 'shroom hunter of her eventually!

I've been working on a lacy beret for my MIL and their Alaskan cruise this summer. It's almost finished, and has been a good distraction from the Feb. Lady Sweater that I'm avoiding. I got a little case of "startitis" this summer and it's not been easy to finish anything. The warm, sunny weather beckons me outside and makes me avoid my crafty pursuits. Must....get...something...finished.....

Here's hoping it's sunny where you are and you get out to feel the warmth sometime today! :)

Ravelry should be ashamed

I go through spurts where I'll spend a lot of time reading either other peoples' blogs that I love, or too much time on Facebook, etc. This weekend found me surfing Ravelry patterns with wild abandon. Really, waaaaayyyy too much time was spent on Ravelry patterns! So much so, that my kids were begging me to come play outside and get off the computer. Add to it that we have a new printer--one that not only prints what I tell it to, but also in color (!!)--- and I have found a new way to get all geeked up and avoid the reality that is my messy house.
Hey! I finished something not too long ago!



It's a Doodlebug Sweater for my daughter (see my Ravelry page for info). She was excited for about 24 hours, then the new-ness wore off. I've been like some crazed, obsessed freak--"You wanna were your new sweater to school today?" "How about today?" "You cold? You look cold. Need a sweater?" She politely declines, and I've developed some sort of paranoia about how maybe Mommy makes dorky sweaters. The pattern is great, don't get me wrong--super easy to understand, comes in every size you'd need for the 6 and under crowd---maybe I've become that Mom. The "oh my God, my Mom is here. And she brought that stupid sweater she made me" Mom.
I suppose we'll all get there, eventually.

Spring is almost here!

So far I think the "happier new year" resolution is working. I've noticed myself feeling a lot more balanced and less easily agitated since I just decided to try and be a more optimistic person. Wow. Was I deciding to be pessimistic all these years? Who knows...and oddly enough, the pessimist in me keeps warning me that I can't stay chipper forever! We'll see about that.

One thing the increase in sunshine has given me, is the push to finally post my handmades on Etsy. I have loved Etsy since I first discovered it two years ago, and briefly opened a shop in 2007, but never really stuck with it. When my first round of items didn't sell well I got discouraged and let it fall by the wayside. I think part of it was just that I immersed myself so much in what my kids were doing and family-oriented things, that I sort of let myself go a little, as well. So, I'm to announce that my Etsy shop is renewed, full of items I really, really love myself! I;ve found that when you have a passion, it shows, and you want to share it. I am so excited! Please take a moment ot check it out, and browse through others' shops--Etsy is such a great way to bring people together and a fun way to share our craft.

The New Year!

I really hate resolutions, so I try to fool myself by calling them "goals". So, after one whole evening of reflecting and thinking about what I hope to accomplish in 2009, I present my goals-not-resolutions:

1. Learn to spin
2. Learn Dutch (see post about Amsterdam--more trips possible in the future)
3. Be more positive. oooh, the glass half empty gal in me is hurting on this one! But, for the sake of my children, I will do my best to start the day on a light note and hit the floor with happy feet
4. Give above goal a fighting chance by not expecting it to be out the door before February
5. Keep up my exercise routine
6. Expand y cooking repertoire

I'm pretty happy with these. The positive-thinking one will be tougher for me than learning a foreign language, so I've got my work cut out for me. Anyone else willing to share their non-resolutions?!

:)

Christmas knitting

I'm pretty sure no one in my family reads this--I don't think they even know this blog exists--so I'll talk Christmas crafting today. Each of my nieces and nephews (all 5 of them) are getting quilts for Christmas. We just happen to be major Purdue fans, so they'll be getting quilts of the black and gold variety. Pictures to hopefully come soon!
Mom is getting a red and white striped scarf with a snazzy (love that word) design I'm felting. First needle felting experiment of mine, and so far I'm pretty happy with it. I would love to make something for my husband, but he's a bit of a knitting scrooge and isn't to interested in me making something for him. Isn't that awful?! How do you convince a guy that he needs something you made, other than food? He'll get really cold some day and wish I'd whipped up a snazzy :) scarf for him.

Why am I on the computer

when I have a hundred things that need to be done before she gets off the bus in two hours? I keep asking myself that very question. I think it is partly to stall---great procrastinator, here---and because now my mind is running. I have a few blogs I read on a near daily basis, one of them being fromutopia.com (aka dogsstealyarn). She posted today about the pain of a miscarriage rearing it's ugly head again, months after the fact.
It's been three years since we lost ours, and despite having an older child, and one very soon after the loss, I still feel it. I still think of him/her (my brain always "sees" a girl), and wonder what she would have been like. The only thing that got me through it--what finally made me wake up one day and be "okay", was the reassurance that he/she will be the first one I see in Heaven. It almost makes me excited, to think of this little person who the world never tainted, never touched, still perfect and right as rain, there waiting for me. That thought makes me happy. When someone asks how many we kids we have, and we answer "two", I always think to myself "and one that only I knew".
If you read this Cari, I'm sorry you have to feel it too. Maybe my way of seeing it will bring some peace. I hope so.