just don't call me crazy

ambitious? maybe.

our poor girl has been sleeping in a dungeon of a room since she was 9 months old. her room used to be the office/guest room and was painted a dark weird color that is hard to describe. a brown-purple something awful. we didn't touch it before she was born because we knew she would be sleeping with us so we figured we had time. then we weren't sure if we were going to have henry and bea share a room. we went back and forth for a long time. needless to say we chose to giver her her own space. for the time being. i would like for them to share a room, but for now with many of henry's toys being of the choking hazard variety, we thought it best for them both to have their own space and space for those types of toys (in henry's room).

so now, less than two weeks from christmas, we have decided to paint wee bea's room. i also chose the wrong color. i really wanted yellow. a lemony bright yellow. but pale. does that make sense? well i was so off. matt put a swatch of the paint we bought on the wall and it matches our living room & hallway almost perfectly! (have i mentioned i don't like the color anymore and want to repaint those as well? the color is looking to me like a smoker has lived in this house for 50 years.) anyhow. today i am spackling and priming (wow, we have torn these walls up!). this weekend we will go and get a lovely lavender color and forget the agony of choosing the right yellow.




yes. this is how my day looks.



and this pile will follow. i was inspired by these and have drawn up my own pattern to attempt for bea. she seems to be smitten by owls so i think it will be a good thing. if i can make it happen. and there is something to be in the works for my little indiana jones fan as well. luckily, i will have a little help with that.


well, i'm off. i better get moving : )

favorite friday

when i read (and enjoyed) this post at bee house hives the other day i decided to take sarah's idea and make off with it. friday seems like the perfect day for me as it one of my favorite days of the week. it kicks off the weekend, which to a play at home mom doesn't necessarily mean much except that matt will be home for 2 whole days and that's a winner in my book. it's also a nice way for me to reflect on my/our week and just another way to appreciate those little things that end up being such a big part of who we are. so here are some of my favorites.

snowman forest. i have weak spot for snowmen. maybe it's the lack of snow here. EVERYWHERE seems to have snow but here!


coffee. knitting. warm electric blanket. christmas lights. cuddly boy next to me. underdog cartoons. napping dog & napping bea.



chef bea. especially in the oversized hat. busy hands and a busy mind. she loves hats even if she can barely see.



someone to share the electric blanket with. first thing in the morning that is where you can find him. he likes to be warm.
and he likes old cartoons. today it was underdog, other days it's 1940's superman and popeye cartoons. i like them too.


being able to whip up a fresh batch of laundry soap to help me tackle all the laundry i've let pile up this week. i aim for this to be my only housekeeping chore all weekend.

the last stocking (for this year)

i took up knitting sometime in late 2003. my gramma had knit everyone's christmas stockings in our family. starting with her seven children, their spouses or significant others, then their children, and even some of their children. i wanted this tradition to continue. so i bought a book thinking that the written/illustrated directions would be all i needed to get started, except for the basket of yarn and needles gramma gave me. well . . .

learning to knit from text + drawings was not enough. while i would have loved for gramma to have taught me how to knit it was not geographically possible. so, i signed on for a knitting class at a big box craft store. the classes were cheap and i could just pay as i went. i think i went to 4 classes. as many classes as it took me to learn to cast on, knit, and purl. from there i just practiced on scarves. (everyone got a scarf that year).

since then i have been a knitter on and off. i'm pretty sure i took a couple years off of knitting. not sure why that happened. maybe it was fear of moving beyond knitting long rectangles, i don't know. anyway, i vowed that would never, never happen again. i did take a summer break from knitting, but i was trying to become better at sewing. and i think i did. now i haven't touched the sewing machine (except for when i moved it to it's new home in my bedroom) for all the knitting i have been doing. there may be a seasonal cycle here. this winter i have chosen small, simple projects and have been very pleased with the amount of knitting i have accomplished. of course it helps that wee bea is growing and entertaining herself for longer stretches of time and i can squeeze in a few rows here and there with children underfoot. i surprised myself by getting 3 stockings done well before the holidays set in! many late nights and all 3 seasons of 30 rock on netflix were involved in that outcome though.



bea's stocking was knit a little out of pattern because i knit hers last. i ran out of red and my lys had run out too (and you know i wasn't going to wait until it came back in stock!). i decided to use some of that berroco that i have so much of. i was a little hesitant about using the mustard yellow even though it complimented the green so nicely. with matt's encouragement i kept going and i am very happy with the result. it gives the stocking a nice vintage look i think and i also like the earthy tones.

one of the things i love most about knitting these stockings is that except for one pattern all the patterns were the ones my gramma used. everyone's names are charted out right there on the pattern. i know who has what stocking. i like being able to add names to the charts. many of them are taped together because they have become so worn and i now keep them in plastic sleeves.

now all the stockings are hung by the fire and i don't have to take out of focus pictures of the mantle like last year so bea won't know she didn't have a handknit stocking. now her stocking is there, right where it should be. and i must say it looks perfect hanging there!

we all shine on

one of my first loves. when i first discovered john lennon and the beatles i remember listening to their music over and over and over.
i devoured books about them, i watched movies, i immersed myself in them. i sometimes find myself wondering if things would be different in this world if john was still with us.

i believe they would be.

come along

walk with us. click here.

quandary: of the good sort

basically, i don't know what i am going to do with my day once i finish this bowl of chili.
it isn't often that i have a day to myself, but thanks to my mom, i have this great quandary.
i know i could clean the bathrooms or move mountains of laundry. do i take this time to do things i can do when the littles are
home (though i could cross them off my list much faster), or do something such as relax a bit? i haven't decided yet. i may balance the day out with both. i have sewing projects i would really like to begin and that is a task i can accomplish much better with a huge block of uninterrupted time. or i could knit while watching a movie that no one else in this house cares to see. the possibilities seem endless right now - i think i am almost giddy! but i better get on it, because i know the days are short right now.

there has been knitting

i promise. and i have proof!



three christmas stockings to knit this year. well, truth be told, one should have been done last year, but don't tell bea.

my cousin dan and his wife lauren welcomed whit to their family earlier this year. his was done first. i always have issues with knitting the names and this stocking was no exception. i think i had to frog and restart the name 3 times before i was satisfied.
my problem not the patterns (as usual). and i am not too good at colorwork, but these stockings are good practice.



next came my cousin nicole's little boy braylon's stocking. i used the same pattern my gramma used for mine which was fun. i should have taken a picture of them next to each other. little braylon is just four months old and almost as big as bea! another technique i need to practice and i definitely got to do on these projects was seaming. not perfect, but getting better!



and beazy's stocking. sweet girl should have had hers last year but it just never got started. and i did hers last this year, since it didn't require shipping i figured i had up until the last minute to get it finished. i can happily say that other projects can be worked on into the wee hours of the next couple weeks. bea's stocking is finished (except for a few loose ends) and is hanging on the mantle. i'll share that next week.

the rest of the projects i have planned are fairly simple and should be stress free. many are already started and are workable while children are present! a few require sewing and may be trickier because, well, i am not a seamstress and because i am
experimenting with making my own patterns, except for this one - but i will still have to modify it a bit.

how is your holiday crafting going?

november favorites 2009

{click on the photo to see the page that lists the credits}

i didn't spend a lot of time on flickr this month and i really missed it. this month doesn't look like it will get much more flickr time either with all the holiday crafting that needs to get done. i am really behind on uploading photos, but i have enjoyed looking at everyone else's when i've had the chance. definitely some flickr gratitude over here!

happy december!