Saturday Sky and yard

The sky in Ninilchik around 6 pm.
(Kazul recommended that I post evening pics).
Just one of my 6 rhubarb plants.
(needs to be separated)

Knitting: Picked up dropped stitch in Bumpkin's legging and now am just a few rows shy of finishing second leg. Just may finish it up this week.

Sewing: having trouble w/material selection for quilt square.

Thank you all for the prayers for DM she is doing better, still no word on when she will be allowed to leave.

Saturday was a busy day for us. Went to a Ravelry meetup, then the hospital (where Bumpkin's and I ran into Pastor Lucy. Pastor Lucy was just leaving but returned to the building to watch Bumpkin's while I visited DM. How awesome is that!) Returned home and went to a graduation party for one of the band members kids. While on the road DH informed me that after the party we would be going to Ninilchik for a recital for his music lesson kids. Oh yeah... Pentecostal church gathering.. I have no dress, Bumpkin's looks like a ragamuffin. Needless to say great fun was had. Both at the party (in the pouring rain) and at the recital. Got some shopping done for one of my swaps.

Weather: rainy and then sunny late in the day. (7 pm)

Prayer Request

DM is in ICU.
Her blood sugars today were 541.
At this time it is unknown what the results are from the lab.

Follow up on the bird incident of yesterday....
How did I catch the bird?
Well when it landed on the floor, I placed the box over it
And then nudged it w/a dowel to encourage it to enter into the box.
Once it was inside the box,
I lifted the box up to the window for releasing.
By the time the box was level with the window,
the bird was perched up on the side of the box flapping his wings.

Bird type: Junco.

dinner: bratwurst and pretzels.

Athena is a predator!

DH left the window to our bedroom open and then...
he left.
Around 5:30, Bumpkins and I discover
bird feathers all over the place.
Athena is meowing and searching for something..
2 hours later, the poor thing is discovered in my closet
on top of my sweaters.
After finding camera to take photo,
the bird flies around the room.
Now imagine
a cat, a 3 yr old and a lady armed w/camera
all chasing the bird.

See Athena really wanted to keep this poor critter.

Bird was released outside w/o
being seriously injured.
(cat is pouting)

Knitting: restarted Bumpkins leggings, discovered a dropped stitch way back in the main body of the first leg.

Sewing: cut out template for my Round Robin quilt square now to cut out material.

Have been busy working, sleeping and reading this week.

Oh.. forgot that I burned my arm on Wednesday night while making dinner. Had boiling water w/butter on a back burner. After/while moving the pot to another burner to add the instant potatoes, somehow the boiling hot water splashed onto the side and leapt out of the pan and landed on the webbing part of my thumb all the way up to almost my elbow. Immediately shoved arm under the faucet and ran cool water over it. No blisters but it is still rather sore.

So that is all folks.. Summer vacation started today.

Sunday Quotes and Random Website

We secure our friends not by accepting favors,
But by doing them.
Thucydides
The above is the Reducio Sock Swap gift that I
received from.... Penelope Pinkwater over in Ravelry.

Knitting: finished up the scarf (will post pix this week). Nothing else has really been worked on.
Sewing: nothing. Did take out a pre-cut square so I can sew that together for my Round Robin Swap.

This weekend has been a little busy. I have started this post 3 times and now hope to finish it. Early Sunday morning DH, Bumpkins and I drove up to the Matsu Valley for a wedding. I drove as DH had had a busy last 24 hrs. (He videotaped a dance recital than went to work until 6 am). The Valley is a beautiful place, trees were already leafing out and it was alot warmer than here. We returned to Anchorage to stay w/Princess at her new condo (much nicer/ safer location then her last place). This morning found us heading out after a stop at Title Wave Books (very big bookstore, to big actually. The place was HUGE! And the knitting section was aprox 20 shelves full. Mind boggling to say the least.) Then another first for me was lunch at Popeye's- don't think that I will be eating there again. Food was okay- fried catfish and red beans and rice. Oh on Sunday Bumpkins got to see a train in action- that was way cool. We drove past it 2X's. Drove home this afternoon and after doing some laundry went grocery shopping.

Dinner: while at Princess' she convinced me to cook a dinner... so we made Manicotti. It turned out okay. Forgot to add the shredded mozzarella/ Parmesan cheese to the ricotta and spinach mixture and overcooked the shells.

Random website: Schnuffel Bunny (a YouTube video that is sung in German.. just too cute for words.) Thank you Princess.

Saturday Sky and yard

Nice blue sky and temps in the mid 50's F.

With a blue sky and warm temps...
yard work is done.
The remains of a heavyhanded pruning job,
6 rose bushes gone and others barely survive....

Ah... that looks so much better now.
The run to the swingset won't be quite so painful.

Knitting: almost done w/the scarf for my Prayer Partner at church. She graduates this week and so hope to drop it off to the church on our way out of town tomorrow morning. Tomorrow is Graduation Sunday.

Received an owl from Duluth Minn. and it brought me a tiny Hufflepuff sock, yarn and some awesome point protectors. Will post pix later this week.

Haven't been blogging much due to my work schedule. Tuesday and Wednesday worked 7 am to 3 pm. Thursday 7 am to 5 pm and then Friday was 7 am to 2 pm. Also we have had a lot of rain lately so the satellite connection was slow- DH took the laptop to work w/him a few nights to encourage me to go to bed at a decent time.

Today was a busy day... got up at 8 am then by 10 am Bumpkins and I were out the door for a knitting Ravlery meetup. There were 5 of us today. Then off to the library for movies and books on tape. Home again and then off to a Fun Fest down the road at the Lutheran Church. A lot of pressure to enroll Bumpkin's in their Preschool program next fall. And then make DH lunch for work tonight- DH left early because he had a gig for a video recording of a dance recital. Bumpkins and I stayed outside until 5 pm working on the rose bushes. Inside for dinner and cleaning out of the fridge. Still have to pack and put away laundry. Oops can't forget to muck out the car for the early morning start to Anchorage. Just swapped out batts on the camera, have the phone charging, laptop case is ready to go. Need toys, food and clothes now.

ETA: there is some moose fur in the brambles. Anyone want some different kind of fiber?

Random Website Monday

And this is the mini sock that I made
using embroidery floss and US 1 dpns.
(yes complete w/a mini clothespin).
Knitted up in Ravenclaw colors

Knitting: Attempted to cast on for another mini sock this time in purple. But having a dickens of a time w/it. Will try again later.
Sewing: nothing new today. Maybe a bit later.

Boring Monday, laundry, tire swap (winter tires to summer), library to return books not check any out :( Kind of chilly windy outside so no playing in the garden for me.
The tornado that was reported last week wound up being a williwaw. Did a lot of damage to airplanes and signs.

Dinner: was sherperd's pie. Turned out really good. Used the leftover roast from last night, 4 potatoes, several carrots mixed it together in a large baking dish. Over that poured 2 c water that had 3 beef bullion cubes dissolved in it and 1/3 c au jus concentrate (could have used 2 cubes instead of 3 as it was on the salty side). Covering all that was 9 servings of mashed taters. Baked at 350 degrees for a about an hour- the chopped taters and carrots were still kind of crunchy. But it was good and filling, even Bumpkins ate it and she doesn't like potatoes.

Random Website: This is a continuation of yesterday being Mother's Day. Word of caution not for the faint of heart (Bumpkins watched some of it, but DH said that it was wrong). Kitty giving birth to kittens video.

Sunday Quotes

Happy Mother's Day!

Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.
~Charles R. Swindoll, The Strong Family

Knitting: am 1/2 way done on the scarf for my Prayer Sister. Hope to finish it this week so she can get it for Graduation Sunday. Next weekend. Organized crochet hooks and needles.

Today DH, Bumpkins and I went out to Brunch- good food. DM came over for lunch/dinner. Over cooked the 7 bone roast and the roasted veggies were ok. Biscuits were delish and had a wacky cake for dessert. DM and I walked around the yard to take a Spring growing survey, discovered that the compost box in back yard was empty. may fill it up then remove stuff to plant in this year, found some old boards that could be used for my beds. DH gave me a lot of seed packets for Mom's day (many duplicates). Princess e-mailed me a really cute card from Hallmark. DM really likes her socks.

Now it is late and I need to be asleep. But first more laundry has to be done.

Saturday Sky and yard

Today's blue sky with clouds.

Weekly yard pic. Actually this was my garden 2 weeks ago.

The only thing that has changed was the snow melted.
The grass pile in the center is what I have raked up.

Knitting: have been busy this last week. Finished up another sock. More details on that one later. Am now 1/3 done w/the latest scarf project. Have attempted a few more rows on Bumpkin's leggings.

Sewing: finished up the Prize for Kaki. Did another pattern from scratch. Never did find the perfect button. Bummed about that one. Also completed surprise present for Kazul. Can't give out anymore info on those 2 until after Wednesday.

Been working long hours out at the pool. Friday, I was scheduled for Banker's hours 10 am to 3 pm. But at the last minute was called in to work at 7 am. There have been several women in water aerobics lately. Surprisingly since it is the end of the year.

This morning did yard work and finished raking the garden and 2 side flower beds. Tomorrow's goal is front flower bed and the flower bed out in the lawn. DH has got to get to the hedge as HEA is going to destroy it. Guess it will be me somehow hand sawing trees and climbing them and taking the rose pruners to them.

Mailed the packages out today (postage goes up on Monday) so by Wednesday everyone should have their parcels. Most are small enough to go in a mailbox.

Thing 2 had Boroughs today (track meet w/all the schools in the district competing against each other. Even the middle school kids were there. A very long 2 day event). Well he came home w/2 medals. A 3rd place finish in a relay and a second place finish in another relay. He ran both the 4X100 relay and the 4X400 relay (Bad stepparent can't remember which one was which!). Any way the second place finish might place these kids up at Regions next weekend. Hopefully he doesn't make State- because the whole football team is headed down to Seattle for a camp that same weekend State is. So he is going off to camp for a few weeks than to his mom's.

Today's temp: sunny and mid 50's.

Random Website Monday

Today's knitting:
A Wee tiny Sock in Ravenclaw colors.
Fun Fur, blue acrylic and size 4 US dpns.
(cell phone is added for size comparison)
Here is the same sock inside out...
Actually it looks better!

Random Website: Because people are starting to get their gardens going... for numerous reasons the biggest is the price of food! Here are some interesting sites to enrich your soil. I would love to do the biochar one and this other one is sad but informative.

And now for another meme... this one is a word meme from over at Fiber Chics.

What is your name: Janet

4 letter word: Jump

Vehicle: Jaguar

TV Show: The Jetsons

City: Juneau

Boy name: Joe

Girl name: Jane

Occupation: Jester

Something you wear: Jeans

Food: Junk Food!

Something found in a bathroom: jammies.. (bet you thought I would say john.)

Reason for being late: Jumper cables didn't know how to use them.

Something you shout: Jeepers creepers!

And if you want to play along then you are tagged.

Sunday Quotes

"The moment may be temporary,
but the memory is forever."
By Bud MeyerDM's socks are done! all loose ends are woven in.

Knitting: finished above socks. Will be working on the pattern- as I have pattern bashed and now after another pair will have the pattern written out. Attempting a mini sock with size US 0 dpns and embroidery floss. I can honestly say that this sock is kicking my bum- have frogged 4 times now. Also did a couple of inches on Bumpkin's leggings (she has got to stop growing I can't keep up with her.)

Sewing: have got to finish up the "contest prize".

Nothing really happened today... except the XBox 360 died. Complete with red lights of death. Had to keep Bumpkin's downstairs while the thing was dismantled- she would have been stressing out because it was taken apart and she also would have been removing parts and pieces. Ie... helping. Cleaned up a portion of the counter in the craft room.

DH wants new checks... he says the last batch were a little bit much for him. What is wrong with little babies surrounded by flowers and bubbles? So what if some of them were Pink. And the photographer was Anne Geddes or her style. But no... we (him) needs less flowers, less pink, more manly type. Scenic, wildlife would be ok. Can you say BORING! That is so not me... ah but the compromise is he will do geometric! The whole point of getting new checks is to get something different. It is kind of like repainting your house or even rearranging the furniture.

Finished reading the Book started yesterday.. Quilter's Apprentice.

Dinner: Corned beef and cabbage with potatoes and carrots. Thing 2 said that he likes his cabbage cooked with lots of butter on it. I had to inform him that the cabbage tonight was cooked in almost pure fat/ grease. Then there was a big discussion on where the grease came from. Hello ... there is a lot of fat in the corned beef that was simmered on high in water in the crockpot for 5 hours. Then all of the veggies were cooked in this high fat broth- cabbage only until crisp tender (wilted). Later the discussion was on how the leftover meat would make a sandwich. Thing 2 emphatically said that it wasn't good sandwich meat. DH and I went on to explain what a rhueben was. Still Thing 2 wasn't convinced. Thing 2 also thought that perhaps we ought to grow rice in our garden this summer. Took me telling him that we need Florida or Georgia heat to grow that stuff. LOL

Oh and Dandelions were in bloom last week.

Saturday Sky and yard

Contest Winner: is Kaki with a guess of May 1!
(so go on over to congratulate her)
The official date for that yard to be snow free was April 30
(I was holding off on announcing a winner because more snow was being forecasted).

Saturday sky.. taken around 8:30 pm

As you can see the snow is all gone....
(what is left doesn't count as it is a snow pile from snowblowing the drive).

There will be another contest next year... but a different yard will be decided upon (and there is still snow in some of the yards and not from snow falling off the roof).

Knitting: on the final rows of DM's Mother's Day socks and they fit her! Today bought myself some new knitting needles (sock 000,00, 01, 1) or something like that.....

Have been kind of busy of late, frantically knitting DM's socks, finding a quilt block pattern for a Round Robin quilt swap, and searching for yarn and pattern for a mini Ravenclaw sock. Also work and the cooking and cleaning. So not much time to blog.

Today DM watched Bumpkins while DH and I went to a matinee showing of Iron Man. Excellent flick. For dinner we went to Subway... just the thing to sop up all the junk food consumed at the theater.

Book reading: Quilter's Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini