Strange Stuff Tuesday

Knitting: nothing new is really calling to me... do need to cast on another pair of socks for DM for Christmas.

Sewing: unearthed an old UFO quilt square this last week. will post a pic sometime. But in the meantime I have been busy perusing the internet for a border pattern for the Round Robin quilt exchange that I am in. Did buy a wonderful piece of material to go with it. Now to definitely decide on a pattern so I can cut this out and sew it together. Bumpkins and I went to our LQS on Sunday (she did not want to leave! Bribing did nothing; ended up bodily picking her up and hauling her out of there!) Monday after training we walked over to a neighbor's and Bumpkins had a hey day playing in her batiks. Oh wow! what an amazing craft room- it took up the ENTIRE downstairs! Almost 1200 square feet!

Had training on Monday- Red Cross recerts for CPR. Did you know that the Red Cross procedures weren't on their website? You have to go elsewhere to find the official Red Cross guidelines for CPR.

Better be off to bed now... morning comes awfully early.

Strange Stuff: And this gives the term dial up computer a whole new meaning...

eta: and no it doesn't really get pitch black here at night. dusky dark yes but not deep dark. (and that was around 2:30 am. when the temps were down to 34 F again! even the grass doesn't want to grow this year)

random photos

Sunset April 22 at 9:30 pm
(on my way home from work).

Blogger isn't being my friend and letting me post the most recent snow pictures.

Sunday Quotes

"Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing..
is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing."
Phyllis DillerAnd the first blue sky in days!
more snow fell over night.

Since I am now done with the alphabet- a new Theme was needed for Sunday. Kazul sent me 40 quotes for my Birthday and those will be shared with you over the next several months.

Knitting: nothing really new from yesterday. Did discover that I am 2 inches behind in a sweater CKAL, so that will be getting some work done on it.

Sewing: found a pattern for a handbag and sometime today will be printing that out. So that I can start for the handbag contest.

Something way cool happened to me... and you never know who actually is reading your blog. But the author of "the history of the snowman" Bob Eckstein read my blog and posted a comment! And yes I am basking in this moment for a time..
And since spring snows are wetter than the winter snows- this is perfect for snowballs and snowpeople. (sorry Kazul- no anatomically correct snowpeople from us!)

Breakfast: 1/2 whole wheat buttermilk pancakes some of them had mini choc chips and others had apple chunks. Topped w/homemade applesauce and cheap syrup. (Bumpkin's no longer says cancakes :(

Contest!

A when will the snow be gone contest!
(This is A Sticky! Please Scroll down!
There are way more posts!)

Now how to run this contest... one thought was to take pictures of my yard and have people guess what snow pile would melt first and when. Second thought was to post yard pictures and have guesses as to when the snow piles would be gone (completely).
Finally I decided that the contest would be when will the snow be completely gone. (The little corner of the house that still has snow long after all the rest of snow has melted doesn't count.)

And now for the rules:

1. Post a comment with your guess as to when all the snow will melt.
2. Please include a way for me to contact you. (If you don't want your e-mail addie public than you can e-mail me separately).
3. The winner will be whomever is closest to the actual snow free day (no snow in yard around swing set!)
4. I will be posting weekly pictures of the swing set to assist you in your guesses.
5. Contest closes... March 20 2008.

Happy Guessing everyone.. this contest is open to everyone (including those bloggers/readers who are familiar with Alaskan Springtime).

*hint sometime in May wouldn't be a bad guess. March would though.

ETA: this is now a sticky so please scroll down to read the regular posts:

Tuesdays strange stuff

Another shot of the mountains, this one is taken somewhere in Turnigan Arm. (possibly near Portage Glacier).
Knitting: nothing today. I did take it to work- but never had time to knit.

Worked 10.25 hours today. Supervisor again, this time got to shadow someone. Something way cool happened tonight at work. A supervisor that used to work at the pool came to the pool tonight with her son. That was so awesome. Couldn't chat much because of work and all.

Water Aerobics is going great. The level has been stepped up about 5 notches (very intense) and the music is working out great. 13 ladies braved the icy roads to be tortured- 2 of them are newcomers. The down side of supervising and teaching is that I had to get someone else to guard and have my designated water aerobic guard teach water aerobics while I dealt w/a situation. But I knew that my guard could do it.

And the monthly weigh in:

• 137 lbs. (up 8 lbs. since I started my monthly weigh ins)
• Thigh 23
  
• Bum 39
  
• Waist 32
  
• bosom 38

Differences are that in 2 weeks....I added .5 inches to thighs, bum and bosom stayed same, waist lost .5 inches. The month differences are thighs stayed same, bum gained .5 inches, bosom lost 1 inch, and waist lost 2.5 inches.

Strange Stuff: I appear to be on some kind of science kick.. because this kind of stuff keeps popping up. Something else for your geeky biology teacher and this is knitted? Warning do not open link while drinking or sitting quietly in your local library/ while kids are sleeping.

Weather: Rainy, icy and warm.

ETA: the fuzzy fun fur object from last week.. was a finger puppet. Was supposed to be a bear- but wound up being a tribble.

Random Website Monday

The view that was seen as we escaped the Peninsula.

Bumpkins and myself while visiting Princess. Bumpkins snuggling w/Princess (Mott's in the background).

DH and I enjoyed our adventure into the Big City. Got new cell phones, new phones for the house. Ate out at Panda Express at the Diamond Center (won't eat there again, they charged Bumpkins full price for a buffet. Also service wasn't that great.) Hula Hands out in Mountain View was excellent as usual. They didn't have any poi for us to sample. But DH had raw salmon, rice noodle soup (that was good), shredded pork in a Tapa leaf (Bumpkins and I didn't like that one) Luau like pork and rice. I had teriyaki chicken and some kind of marinated beef and rice. Also made a couple of home cooked meals for Princess and her room mates.

Fur Rondy was going on while we were there and the only events that we saw were the tables and tables at the Diamond Center. There was seal skins, baleen, ivory and qiviut. A lady was knitting w/the stuff and allowed me to touch the stuff. OH! it was soooo soft! Made my day. We missed the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Sled Dog race (Princess's apartment was about 3 blocks away from where they were starting/running).



Red thing across the top is a Coif.
And these are 2 basket weave headbands that were made for the hat swap. I have forgotten the specifics... except that they were a fast knit. Lots of I cord and used little amounts of yarn. Burgundy one is peaches and cream cotton yarn. Purple is Bernat Cottontots. Pattern on Ravelry.

The picture on the right is of a coif that I made for a hat swap.
Specifics: Cast on March 2 finished March 3
Used US 10.5 and US 11 needles
yarn was local Alpaca about 50 yards.
modified pattern for Needle size and made I cord ties.

Random Website: Check out Freecycle you will need to use your yahoo account to join the groups. But this is an awesome way to acquire new "junk" for your house or to off load some stuff that is still useful- but not to you. (currently we are waiting on a phone call about a golden retriever that is being given away).

6 more weeks of Winter!

As I was about to do this post, the sunset caught my eye. How pretty the pink tinged sky is. (5:15 pm at least the days are getting longer!)





This was the sky at 11:00. Nice and blue- the groundhog definitely saw his shadow.








The temperature this morning at 11:00 was -12. Yeppers... COLD! And we can expect these temps for another 2 1/2 weeks.








This is the hoarfrost on my honeysuckle bush.













And another meme:
Here's the deal:

1. Go to the current book you're reading.
2. Go to Page 161.
3. Copy down the 5th sentence.

It was a good offer; Stephen hoped they could get the job done today.

And since I am not that far into the book, haven't the foggiest idea about what is being talked about! The book's name is The Rescuer by Dee Henderson Book 6 of the O'Malley series. Dee Henderson is an author of Christian Thrillers.

Because people are interested in when all this snow will melt- there will be weekly yard pictures until all this white stuff is gone. What an excellent idea for a contest... Will be thinking of the rules for that one.

Another first this week was, Athena has hairballs really bad and has diarrhea. I know that's gross- but stay with me. Well she kind of missed the litter box and went on the entryway floor. So the putty knife was utilized to pry the frozen poop off of the cold plywood floor.

Stayed home today and found a missing box of 3T clothes for Bumpkins. Went through all of her dresser drawers and closet am now parting with a 1/2 full bag of 18 mos to 2T girls clothes. That is one large box gone and a small rubbermaid tote to be reassigned. Yeah! clutter busting! Last night, I found a shirt Bumpkin's got for Christmas and after washing haven't seen since.

O is for......

OOPS!
I meant to post these on Saturday for Saturday Sky. (Even though I am not part of that Web ring). These were all taken around 3:00 pm on Saturday. Just after we dropped Thing Two off at the airport to go to his mom's.





Optical illusion?
No this is really a picture of the full moon- taken at 3:00 pm. Just before sundown.



Odd:

DH wanted to check out a local thrift store. This is what we bought for Bumpkins for $12.00. It is way to big, size 6 but so adorable. We also got a ? for Princess. Hope that she likes it. The thrift store was very impressive. You almost needed cell phones to just find each other. Each door you went through there was MORE stuff. Found a pea coat and some other clothes Princess may like. Also found a coat that had pleats like a lampshade. It was so bizarre.




Knitting: Have to finish up the drawstring bag for ?. That will actually be fast. Tomorrow during nap. Sewing: finish up jacket, slip and pjs. The dress and bonnet won't get done. I did lose a needle that was threaded somewhere in this house.

Cleaning: almost done. DH will clean Thing Two's bathroom tomorrow and dump the shop vac. I will mop floors and vacuum. Then onto making the lefse and going grocery shopping. Thinking about getting the little people house for Bumpkins (it is at DMs).

Bumpinks and I have gone cold turkey on the nursing. Tonight is the second night for not nursing (I am so full it hurts). Also this is the 3rd night she has been (stayed) in her own bed. I have had some really long nights though! Sitting next to her until she falls asleep.

TGIF? oh it's Saturday.....

I am not going to apologize for not blogging lately. Nicole found this wonderful blog... with an awesome freeing idea called ........ Blogging w/o Obligation. So even though I do the ABC's, Random Web site, Strange stuff and WIPS..... it is ok to not do them sometimes.

So onto what made me late for work 2 days in a row. Thursday, I was late because these 2 creatures were in my yard (and I do not go out w/them). And Friday, I was late because on Thursday I couldn't load up stuff in my van that needed to be loaded. Baby moose is eating my apple tree, so no apples for us next summer. Mom is grazing my hedge. To bad they can't eat the stuff that HEA wants mowed down. (there is hardly any snow in my front yard tonight).



Knitting: have knitted another complete set on the Sarah Blanche scarf. Sewing finished completely Kazul's Christmas Present. Yeah! Now so many more to do... Boo hoo... oh well some won't get done. That is part of life.

Work- I have been working 9 and 10 hr days for the last few days. Today was a short day, only 8 hrs. But what an 8 hrs. that was. Most of the day was quiet because of all the Halloween stuff going on. But tonight...... kind of quiet.. until.... a young lad decided to swim across the pool in my zone. He got 1/2 way across and went to active drowning. I leaped into the pool (with fanny pack and shoes on) and towed him to the side via the tube. After I was done showering and changing into another uniform (that Nige had to scrounge up for me). I heard the emergency buzzer go off again. When I got up front there was nobody- so I proceeded to head out onto the deck and saw Nige. He was dripping wet and holding his fanny pack. Yep he went in after the same kid. 30 minutes later found Amber w/the net fishing puke out of the pool. Yep... the poor kid threw up after all the water he drank on his previous incidents. So that was my day work- how was yours?

Anyway to "enable" you folks here are a couple of swaps/exchanges.
First a winter stitch marker swap- it sounds kind of interesting.
Second a Winter Wonderland coffee Swap- I don't do coffee so won't be participating in this one.

Sunny Saturday!

Doggers... had to go find a new home. Bumpkin's was distraught, Doggers gone! Doggers was to hyper for us, the last straw was this morning when Thing 2 got up around 8 and by 9:30 Doggers still was inside. He didn't take her out because no one told him to.













And if you look closer at these photos you can see the termination dust (otherwise known as snow!) Winter is coming closer.


Knitting: nothing did join a cool sock contest over at Jane's blog. Now to decide on what patterns and to find the yarn for DM's Christmas present- of 2 pairs of hand knitted socks.

Today was the decisive game of the season, Kenai was annihilated final score 46- 0 (or something like that.)

A is for .......

Appreciation: For clouds in shapes- that we never used to have. (Those are some of the pathetic Black Spruce that we call trees!)
Appreciation: for Alaska's bounty. (Currants that need to get picked- as frost is coming).

Appreciation: for the fireweed that has already gone to seed and is taller than me. (6 weeks till winter and over 5 ft. of snow!)

Appreciation: for the fall flowers (Alaska Nasturtiums). I really like the variegated leaves.
Knitting: Cast on and ribbed one row of Bumpkin's leggings. Have to frog and recast as the ribbing doesn't quite line up. Will do that later tonight. Am now on the last row of Bumpkin's tank top. Need to do- straps and seam it up. (Did you know knitting 3 sts. on size US 8 needles is really hard, esp... when said knitting needles are about 14" long.)

Worked a really long day today: 7 am until 3 pm. Wouldn't have been so bad except that I thought that I worked until 12. So I didn't get much sleep last night- as we are trying to get Bumpkin's out of our bed. That lasted until 2:30, when I decided that 5:30 was coming fast. So now I am exhausted and Bumpkin's is napping.

Thank you to all who comment, I will continue to have random websites and strange stuff.

Tonight dinner: Pizza

Weather: Sunny and 60 (you can tell someone other than an Alaskan designed Weather girl- she is always in pants and long sleeve shirt. Today I am in t-shirt and shorts!)

Random Website Monday

Bathroom anyone? Yes that is an outhouse w/a sampler vegetable garden in front. Location: Homesteader display at the Pratt museum in Homer, Alaska.
Knitting: nothing today, but finished another row on Bumpkins tank top (I keep untwisting the stitches- thankfully this is the back). Sewing today was the jack-a-lope slippers, both main slippers are done and now to cut out 2 more ears (the other pair disappeared) and embroider the faces then sew them all together. Not much left at all- should finish this month. Washed the backing for Bumpkins Doll baby quilt- now to cut the border and stitch that on. If Bumpkins would go to sleep that could get done.

Worked today: training (Nige did the training on improving your swimming stroke- hello, aren't I the Swim Instructor? I should have been teaching it while he did backboarding skills. Fred, Ancel and I were on the same team. That was fun. Fred, Alexa and I are to short to back board standing so that left Ancel and lene. First go around Fred stabilized and Ancel and I back boarded (victim paralyzed- but we had great communication!) Last time I stabilized and Fred and lene backboarded. That one was done the best. Fred is a great team mate- and now she is gone to college. BOOHOO !! I applied for the job- I type 43 gwpm, but w/6 errors that comes down to 37 wpm. Maybe not enough as the job was looking for 50 wpm. Oh well I tried. It is now in God's hands.
Princess's car broke down again... this time dead battery.

Random website: What every well dressed kid needs... yep a backpack.

Weather: rainy, cloudy temps 60's

Dinner: tacos

Mommy look at the Beagle!

This is Bumpkin's Beagle- an immature eagle that was screeching in our yard most of the day. It is very cloudy- so no blue sky.
These are flowers from the wedding yesterday. Aren't they beautiful? I just love the orchids. The bride gave me these. I am so honored. Oh well she doesn't have a clue as to what she is getting herself into w/the band. BAND WIDOW!!!! Her husband is the drummer for one of DH's bands. Strange wedding, the bride is my age almost 40 and the groom is 52, neither of them have been married before.


Knitting: Finished the beaded star, will show pics later. When making the stars I have to be careful to remember to slip a stitch when I am supposed to. These ornaments that I am making this month will be nice to hang off of Christmas presents. NO MORE STARS!! I have other things to do like... put buttons on a dress that I made 10 yrs. ago. (Question is will it still fit?) Hope so as I really like the pattern and the material. Last night I went through my material stash- yikes, must not buy anymore material. The shelves are full. And I am off-loading some 1970 era stretch knit hot pink. While in that search mode only 2 UFO's appeared (and they were ones that I already knew about). Reorganized my yarn stash this am and found all my dpns (after stabbing my hand w/a pair of scissors that were lurking). Went through a box from the move and found odd stuff. Reorganized that box to only have mending. Lots there.

DH took Thing One and Thing Two to Anchorage for clothes shopping. I thought about going but decided that I didn't want to be in the same car for 3 hrs w/2 teenage boys and a toddler. So Bumpkins and I are cleaning instead. Vacuumed upstairs and down (still have the stairs to do), swept entryways, and cleaned one bathroom. Still have floors to mop and one bathroom to do. Completed 4 loads of laundry and 3 more to go. Want to bake something to- not sure what though.

Weather: Rainy (no internet this am).

More Flower pictures

Oh no the fireweed is already blooming. Legend has it that once the fireweed blooms then there is only a short time until winter and how tall the fireweed grows is how much snow we will get. Thankfully this a dwarf fireweed, so it is just a pretty magenta color. (White stuff isn't snow, just broken up sheetrock).Knitting: Finished 8.5 in. on Bumpkins tank top, have co for the ruffle but have to frog as my count is all wrong. I am modifying the pattern, only putting the ruffle on the front and using cc color for straps and 4 rows on the back. That way she can wear the shirt w/a cardigan. By the time that I am done she will have a complete outfit in this lullaby stuff. Shirt, cardigan, skirt, leggings and hat. NO SOX!!

Haven't blogged lately as DH hasn't worked and is on the comp. Also Bumpkins is having trouble sleeping (very difficult to blog when nursing/or with a tot that is awake.) I think that I am ready to wean, I hate the way her teeth feel against me, the way she pulls on me and is stretching me out, the way her hands pull my hair.

I have been working every day this week again. Thing one and Two have night jobs at the dock, so when they come home at 4 am they wake everyone up. They did bring home a salmon though (very tasty). DH called and woke Bumpkins and I up. She didn't go back down and she was asleep for maybe 45 min. Tonight is going to be rough. Overtired cranky two year old.

Since I missed my Monday random website: Crocs are taking over the world. They come in High Heels also.

Strange Stuff: Midwives and Ob's would like this.

Weather today: finally sunny and 65. The last few days rainy.
Dinner:(last night) Fresh Silver Salmon marinated in teriyaki, soy sauce, lemon juice, liquid smoke, and olive oil then grilled, side dishes: rice and mixed veggies.