Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Ten on Tuesday: Reasons to Use the Public Library

Top 10 Reasons to Use the Public Library:

1. Free books, movies and music!

2. Interlibrary Loan - so I can get almost anything

3. Knitting time at the local library

4. The ability to see what we have on our cards (for the whole family) online - so we can find them all and return them without too many fees

5. The ability to request items using our cards online

6. The ability to renew items online

7. Different Activities they hold for the kids (crafts, animals, science demonstrations, etc)

8. Summer Reading Program

9. Checking out their New book lists every month to add interesting titles to my Goodreads list

10. Making it so this year, so far I've read about 53 books, and own only 3 of them. I have hope for the rest of my to-read list.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

TonT: Reasons to be Glad it's Spring and a Vest

Since I'm behind already, let's not do all ten and do a show and tell instead this week...

I am glad it's spring because I love this:


...and this...


but unforunately when I zoom out...



I have no love after that picture....


I did finish the vest for the little tomato



This was obviously planned during his green period. He is still in it sometimes, but is now in a period of transition. It fits him well though, and I love this new pattern - no sewing! I love it. If you knit and are part of Ravelry you can see it here. I ended up having to undo most of the body and make it more narrow and use the other end to add ribbing and make sure I had enough yarn to finish... but it worked and I ended up with about 6 inches of handspun left at the end!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Ten on Tuesday: Favorite Pies

So... this week's topic is favorite pies. Yes, I'm still watching what I eat, but it's beginning to feel more natural. I just need to mix up the lunch time salad a bit on the days I'm home and have time to make anything else with a minimum of two cups of vegetables. Right... on to pies.

1. Pumpkin

2. Apple

3. Chocolate Cream (made this for our feast this november - so good)

4. Chicken Potpie

5. Beef Potpie

6. Lemon Meringue - how did this end up so far down the list??

7. Key Lime Pie (especially that frozen one... maybe I'll bring one to book club this month and cheat a bit!)

8. Hershey Pie (again, frozen - single servings are wonderful, especially when on sale)

9. Quiche - we call it egg pie with veggies here, and we make it with TONS of veg

10. Peach Pie

What's your favorite??

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Contest Winner

I collected all the entries to the contest and numbered them all, in order of when each person entered. I then took all those numbers to random.org and the winner was number 3. That was Noel. So... let me know what you want! yarn spun or something knit...

Ten on Tuesday: Favorite Smells

My top ten favorite smells, in no particular order...

1. fresh lemon/lime

2. warm bread just sliced

3. the crisp clean smell of someone who's been out in the cold

4. the smell of rain coming soon

5. fire (also the sound and look of it, but the smell is sometimes nice)

6. my kids, freshly showered especially

7. chocolate

8. pumpkin pie - although the spiced pear butter I made this past year is close to that... not that they smell the same, but they provoke the same bundled up fall feeling.

9. flowers - I enjoy the sight of some flowers more than others, but just the smell of any flowers walking into a room is nice.

10. Fresh clean clothes that have been dried outside in the sun

Saturday, March 05, 2011

Secret Knitting revealed

I finished knitting the second sweater last night, woke up this morning only needing to sew on buttons and weave in some ends before the afternoon baby shower. I don't like cutting it this close, but it became difficult to bring this with me to work on it on the go.

The little baby sweater (just missing buttons)


When I made a second hat for a different baby (who is bigger than average) I was given the first hat back and so it made a nice baby set with the sweater.



Then I had lots of this matching yarn left and figured it would be great to make something for the new big brother:


Luckily, my little boy is about a year older, so I figured tight on him would be roomy on the giftee.

I was really happy with how this whole set turned out!


Now, back to my scrap blanket, a shawl I have just barely started, a vest for my boy, and maybe something for my oldest, who is a birthday girl next week (but not done for her birthday, no way)... and if you win the contest, maybe something for you!

The contest ends tonight and I get to start phase two of the South Beach Diet tomorrow morning. So far it's been a success, it is still hard when I crave something, but I am full most of the time from all my vegetables!

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Goals and Promises

Ha Ha, I entered the title 'Secret Knitting' and it published for some reason, so this blank post really was secret knitting. Nice. I think I'll update the title....

I am still working along on the gifts that I am knitting. They will hopefully be finished before this weekend, so you can look forward to a post finally showing them soon. I am more than half done I believe right now, and almost all done with the thinking parts, which is good because I don't have much more thinking knitting time (non-thinking knitting can be done while talking or watching shows... thinking knitting has to be at least some what paid attention to).

So, I'll take a minute, before getting back to that to recap my goals and where I am on them.

Goal number 1: Make a habit of daily Scripture Reading

Yes, this is going well. I am reading one chapter almost every day, and on the couple I've missed I've made myself catch up the next day. I am in the middle of Luke right now and am fine continuing with that.

Goal number 2: Read a majority of my GoodReads list


I'd say this is going well... not great, but pretty good. I had mentioned something about a book a week - well, I'm up to about 34 for the year so far, but... I had also made a rough sketch of how many books I should have on my to-read list each month, as I knew I would always be adding more. I started with 68, added some to a high of 78ish and I currently have 54 on my to-read list. This falls just below the February goal, so, ignoring my currently-reading books I will count this one as a check.

Goal number 3: Spin at least 60 oz over the year

This one gets a partial, as I am currently at 8.5 oz for the year, and two months done I should be about 10 oz. I usually spin a bit more as it warms up for some reason though, so we'll see if I can catch up over the next couple months.

Goal number 4: Go through toys

Nope, not yet. This will be most likely accomplished after we switch to summer schedule for school.

Goal number 5: Deep Clean each room twice

I have started this, but not enough for even a partial check mark. That spring cleaning I'm looking forward to at the end of the month should really help this!


And don't forget the contest... Any comment or getting someone else to comment gets you an entry until I close it Saturday night! All details and prize info here

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Ten on Tuesday: About March

This week's Ten on Tuesday is a little fun, the list is the top ten reasons I love the month of March.

1. Two of my three kids are born in March - that makes the whole month fun.

2. My birthday is at the beginning of April, so March means I get to start thinking about it.

3. Every once in a while you get a nice warm day where the air feels so clean and fresh.

4. During those one or two days I love to open the windows, just for a bit, to air out the house, which is wonderful.

5. Snow melting - enough said.

6. Seedings - it's time to start them planting, we went last weekend and made some purchases, so I think this next weekend we'll be starting our garden (inside version).

7. Once again, with the snow melting and the warmer weather I can sometimes get outside. Whether it's a walk or a bike ride - I mostly hibernate in the house during the winter, so it's nice to move around outside.

8. We are now (well, after tomorrow) 2/3 done with our organized school year. March is usually the time we start the last push, last units, and looking forward to the end and summer schedule.

9. Flowers. I know they aren't really coming out of the ground yet, but going to the different stores I have to visit for my normal shopping I can see all the blooms and start to get excited about spring.

10. Spring Cleaning. While it's warm but not warm enough to play outside (closer to the end of the month?) I look forward to taking a week or so and just cleaning out all the corners of our small house.