Contest at Diary of an Eccentric

Just a quickie post!!
I just wanted to give a shout out for Anna's Contest (at Diary of an Eccentric) for the book Mrs Lieutenant by Phyllis Zimbler Miller.
I certainly don't have the flair of the written word that Anna has, so make sure you check out her interview with Phyllis on her blog!
Anna has a fabulous interview with Phyllis on her blog, and makes the book (which is about Army Wives during the Vietman War) sound very intriguing. I personally don't know if I can wait for the contest results to read it. (Oh I hope I win- I hope I win -I hope I win).

Since my puedo daughter Lori, who is waaay out in Seattle, is sitting at home waiting for her own husband to come back from Iraq, I am strongly urging her to pick up this novel and read it since it is about women such as herself allbeit in a different era.

Thank you Dawn for reminding me thatI have lots of reading to catch up on.

Wax On - Wax Off

WHOOT! I made it to the final eight (16) last night. You can get a lot of knitting done when listening to an audio book til 2 am. Of course, I realized my brain was too fuzzy to comprehend anything I might try to read, so I left the dreaded Kitchener stitch until today. Hmmm I wonder why it is called that...

Anyway, since my little man likes to get up with the birds- I really need to stop staying up so late- I decided to just stay up instead of trying to convince him to go bad to sleep.
What else is one to do at 6am?? Well knit of course!

I must have had the ah ha moment during my sleep because when I picked up the my loopy for grafting the toe, I left my handy dandy Knitters Handbook on the shelf and heard the little voice in my head saying, wax on- wax off -wax on -wax off.... okay, then it said purl purl knit knit...HOLY CRAP... IT FINALLY STUCK IN MY OVERSTUFFED BRAIN!!! That probably means something important fell out of it, but I will deal with that later.
That pesky grafting business is firmly in there!!



Ta Da! Has a bit of an elfin quality to them doesn't it. Probably why I like this pattern so much. And TOFUtsie.. is comfy on the feet. Must be tasty too since Brodie likes to grab and run with them.


Now what the heck am I supposed to do with the left overs?? Always a dilemma for me. I guess for now, it goes to the elephant graveyard.


Oh look, a baby fox on my sofa! I will have to dig out the baby pictures of my other two boys to see if their ears were that perked as puppies. Both of them grew up with the typical Sheltie flop to them, Brodie's used to be floppy but now he always seems to be in the high alert mode.

I did spend a little time on my blog the other day- my only day off during my vacation- what with one thing and another, and Raine visiting of course. I tried to do a little house keeping and spruce it up some. I keep meaning to have a go at Iweb and try to design something fresh, but it is too daunting of a task for me right now. There is so much on a Mac that I have yet to learn, hence the reason why all of my photos are uploaded in mega files.

Much as I loved having Raine visit, I am exhausted, and was happy to turn her over to Auntie Pam this week. Children are definitely for the young... Visits to Mimi's are a must, but in small doses...plus the child hogs the whole damn bed!


Now to figure out where the heck I left off in the Koohaas pattern. I am hoping I had the sense to stop with the last round of the pattern set, since I did not have the sense to mark my spot.
In the back of mind I am considering my shopping list for Stitches next month. Since I have enough sock yarn to choke a small horse, I don't plan on buying any more of that, I am thinking it may be a year of kits.

Chicago Skyline

I have never seen the Chicago skyline from the water before! It was pretty darn cool!!

Not exactly how I planned to spend my vacation, but my niece, nephew, sister in law, Raine and myself all went to Navy Pier for the day. Oh my how exhausting! And Expensive!!

We took a boat tour up the Chicago River. Very interesting. I might even consider doing that again, with a full camera battery. We no sooner got to the locks and my battery died along with my nieces battery. Still, we got some cool pictures and then I used my Iphone for the rest of the trip.

On our way home, we stopped by my place to pick up Brodie so he could play with my brothers dog Charlie, while we ate my brothers homemade ice cream. YUM YUM.

Here is how I spend a good portion of my vaca. Putting together a book shelf and attempting to find a place for all of the bazillion books that I own. Actually, by library standards, it really isn't that many books. I just don't seem to have room for everything.

The biggest cluster is the stacks of paperwork, some of which are actual work work, and some of it patterns, supposed important papers. Now I wonder what I thought was important when I packed this crap.

A few bins of Christmas crap yet to be gone through. But at least it is more manageable now.

I would rather spend my time doing this! Raine is practicing her knitting and it seems Brodie is trying to help, or rather undo.

The little darling has a fetish for jewelry and knitting! I no longer wear jewelry, I am waiting for him to get past the need for yanking earrings out of my ears. And my knitting? Well that seems to be a battle of wills. He seems to feel it is a challenge to see how quickly he can yank it from my hands and see how far he can run with it before I catch him.

Terrible picture of my sock and foot, but only a couple more inches left and I can start the toe. That is, if I can keep it away from the puppy.

Dawn has really put me to shame with all her knitting she has accomplished! I feel like a complete knitting slug! Especially since the only thing I have knit in the last two months has been one single solitary sock! I will get my groove back on. I promise. Stitches is coming up next month and I want to have my four WIP's finished before then so I can feel like I started fresh for this fiscal year. I think Raine may go with this year, she seems to have a tad bit more interest in knitting than previously. Here's hoping.

Civil War Days

Brodie and I are settling in very nicely!! Most everything unpacked and now all I am working on is putting together my office/craft room. That is the biggest challenge. A new desk, more suitable for my Macbook than the old monstrous corner desk that I used to have. I am waiting for the eagle to crap so I can buy the file cabinet and book shelf that match my new desk. Then I should be able to finish unpacking this room. 

Wall decor will take  a little longer, but I am in no big hurry. My sofa and recliner are so darn comfy that it has all become very much home to me even without the trimmings. 

This weekend was the Civil War Days that were held at the Forest Preserve. I love these events! Raine was more impressed with the colossal sized sno cones that were on the menu than she was the civil war battle re-enactment.

Of course, having been running late, having to walk damn near a mile to get to the battle, I had one crabby child with me until I managed to appease her with this treat. 

It was so packed with spectators that we had to sit at the end of the battle field. Unfortunately I did not remember my camera and only had the one on my phone.  Another duh moment on my part. And of course, - I missed taking a photo of the deserter that ran straight towards us. Then there were the rebel solders that starting shooting at us once the battle was over.  For me it was a fun time, Raine? Not so much, she was not so interested until we started walking through the shops.

I finally cast on that other loopy sock. Over and over and over again. 

Brodie has learned to jump up on the sofa, running at mach 7. And so quick he is that I would be sitting there knitting, when suddenly Brodie would come flying into my lap, grab my knitting and take off with out barely a blink of an eye. I must have re-cast on a half dozen times this week end because he managed to remove my needles as he ran with my sock. Clearly he is still too young to sit by my side while I knit because he is completely fascinated with it. He is either grabbing at the yarn or sitting on my chest licking my face. Personally I think that is just a ruse on his part to distract me so he can grab my yarn. It took me all week end to get only this far. 

And here is me, trying to get Brodie to sit still so I can take his picture. My little man is always in his momma's face during his waking hours, the little corker.

Sweeeet Independence Day!

Never has our Independence Day ever meant so much! It was my very first day as a completely Independent Woman!! Waaahooo- my very first full day in my new home. Mine and Brodie's that is. I shall miss Bingo terribly, but that is all I shall miss.

Moving day was accomplished with the help of wonderful family. Mine and that crab ass' family. Even tho he decided to park himself at the kitchen table and watch, like he thought I was going to take his 400 pound paperweight safe or something. And he did try to make my leaving difficult by locking the trailer so I could not use it. Until his sister got him to relinquish the key that is.
Still, all in all I managed to make my escape before the day was gone. And not a word was spoken ;)

Fortuately I had my brandy new furniture delivered to the new place. I really did not think I had that much crap! I don't think I could have lifted another box! Today (ok yesterday since it is officially after midnight) I ached so bad after sitting all night at work that I could barely stand. My muscles are screaming!!

The Uverse dude is coming first thing in the AM. I am borrowing wifi from my good friends (formally spousal type's family) who live next door. His dictatorship canceled my email, so if anyone was trying to email me, I will have a new one tomorrow (today).


Welcome to my humble abode!
Isn't that a comfy looking chair for knitting?? I can't wait to be unpacked to I can start my new relaxing life. I can leave my yarn any darn place I want to (out of Brodies reach of course). It was so nice getting up this morning and finding my laptop exactly where I put it last night, and my purse exactly where I left it. And most of all, not hearing a police scanner all flippin night!!

And as you can see, Brodie has made himself quite at home. No adjustment period for him, he walked in like he had always lived here. I am sure he misses big dog too and the great big yard to run around in but he has adjusted very well, so far. He has been consoling himself with a new basket of toys.

Hark ! I think I hear my big girl bed calling me!