it's WWKIP day!

are you kiping?
knitting in public, that is!



today's the day! get out there and show us your pics :D

yup, i'm at a bar. i kinda cheated on kip day. i knew i wouldn't be out and about today, so i took it with me to the ian moore jam last night. more on that tomorrow.

weird kids?

are my kids weird?

so, trying to keep the kidlets happy and entertained and such during the summer break means having friends come over occasionally.

it has just been the most bizarre thing. every one of the little boys my oldest has had over (8-9 yrs old) has not wanted to 'play'. they want to watch tv, play the nintendo or computer or gameboy.... most of them have been happy with the trampoline, but that's it. no cars, cops-n-robbers, sword fights or anything.
are my kids too sheltered? do children not play 'pretend' anymore?
my son is sooo sad about this. he keeps asking why his friends are "bored". it's breaking my heart.
so, here's my fear (because i'm the mom and it's a mom's job to assume all responsibility for everything in her kids' lives *sigh):
is this my fault? am i causing my 8 (very soon to be 9 year old) to be too immature? has my rule of only 1 hour (plus sometimes a movie) in front of the tv been the cause?
i just don't know what to think of this.

i'm excited that today has finally come. hubby and i have been planning a night out for a month. and it's tonight! ian moore is going to be in town playing at a local bar type place. it's a dive really. but a niceish one. he's played there before. we go everytime. i absolutely love ian moore. if you haven't heard his music - you should. he's from austin and plays an awesome guitar. i think he is supposed to play acoustic tonight. tonight will be our 5th or 6th time to see him. i'm tellin' ya, he's great. check out his schedule... if he's coming to a town near you, GO!
anyhow, so my mom and dad are going to watch the kiddos for us. we're dropping them off after dinner and they will be staying the night. woohoo.
my little sister has a second job at Avenue. she picked me up this really fun pair of sassy jeans yesterday. i'm gonna wear 'em out tonight with some silver heeled flip flops. haven't decided on a top yet. most likely i'll go with black (cause i always do).
ya wanna know why sis has a second job? especially when her main one is as a kick-ass surgical assistant? because. she's a good wife. her hubby wants to go to cop school. sooooo, she's pulling in a little extra income to have in the bank for when he does. because the school is a full-time thing. 8 hours a day with no pay. we're all hoping he gets accepted into this coming october's academy.

okay okay, crafty: well, i really didn't do all that much yesterday. i really spent all my time working on the house and such. i guess that could be kinda crafty. kinda? painting and what-not.
oh, that purse that i thought was 'this' close to being done. nope. i'm a dork. i forgot i had a big fat ruffle to do for it. so.... that's on my needle right now. i've also got a blanket in the works with my crochet. but it's a Christmas gift for someone who peeks in every now and again, so no pictures on that until it's gifted.

i almost forgot, i promised faerycrafty i'd put of a pic of my josh:

she has a brand new dane puppy, hunter. you must go see the pics of her adorable pup!

oh, one last thing and i'll quite boring you to death.
does anyone know of a good book that will help me learn some more of this computer stuff?
what i'm wanting is to be able to do my blog on my own, without blogger--- because, well, i don't know if you've noticed, but they kinda suck. they have been down for like 2 days! i was supposed to move over to wordpress and then got all nervous about losing archives and such....
sooo, i'm looking for a book. help?

stuffed bunny

looky at this great little bunny i made last night!






her name is flora. i just love her.
isn't she sweet! the pattern/tutorial is HERE.

i've also been working on a knit handbag. no pictures yet. it's 'this' close to being finished - and will then need to be lined. and then i'll post pics :D
so far, my kiddo's boredometer (located to the right) still sits at just 1! woohoo for mom! i must be doing something right. it's been a solid week since they have been out of school. we've been crafty (mainly with paper/crayons and markers), we've cooked and played played played.
my dane jumped up and put his front paws on the net of the trampoline and made this hugondous hole! so, hopefully i will get it all patched up tomorrow. then the kiddos will be able to bounce themselves sick again --- and yes, i do mean this very literally. i'll spare you.

i sent out a bagillion packages that have been haning out in the back of my suburban for far, far, far too long. i hope they all begin to reach their destinations soon.

to ms. martini:

i'm sorry. i'm sorry. i'm sorry.



i sent your box yesterday.

booty blues

so far so good. yesterday was the kiddos first official day with no school. minimal fighting and no boredom! of course, my niece was here for the second half of the day, so i guess that's kinda cheating. it started raining yesterday evening and still is. well... not actual rain - just random drops. just enough to keep everything wet, chilly, and muddy outside. so it'll be an indoor day for us. at what point do kids realize that sound travels? they are so funny. they are playing "hide and seek". the youngest is in a cabinet in the kitchen and keeps opening and shutting the door to peek out. silly boy.

all 4 kidlets have an eye doctor check up today. so that will take up some time. not that i'm really looking forward to keeping them all entertained while we wait. ugh! i've got to get some snack crackers made up and paper and pencils gathered, maybe a hotwheel or 2, a book or 3...

remember that sweet little sock teddyi made? well, she never made it to her new home. it was in the back of the suburban awaiting my trip to the post office.
just look at what my 5 year old did!



grrrrrr.
i guess what i'm going to do is see if i can get a piece of felt to fit the booty space and stitch it on. unless you have a better idea?

warm wishes

a very good friend of the family is moving into her own place for the first time. she is decorating in a spanish mission kind of style. i made her this:






after i finished needle felthing her, i decided she needed more and freehand beaded this swirly design on.
i hope she likes my little creation.

the kiddos are out of school for the summer. i'm very glad to have them home. i'm also very nervous that this is going to be a long, hot one. this will be the summer i lose my sanity, i'm pretty sure. i wonder how many times i'm going to hear "i'm bored" a day. hmmmm, maybe i should count.

charity: a good thing

every year in my town there is a day of celebration for our puppies. it is Muttfest and is put on by the SPCA. i donated a collar and leash i crocheted. it was for a silent auction. i don't know how it ended up doing because we had to leave the celebration a bit early. my dane started to get a bit snippy at some of the other dogs. he got really tired of every person in the park coming over to pet him. remember, he's deaf. so when people (and dogs) came up to him without warning or asking it well... just all got to be too much.
please, ya'll teach your kids (and yourself) to ask an owner before petting their dog. grrrr. this just makes me nuts! what in the world is going on inside these people's heads? he's 220 pounds for crying out loud! i mean, i know he's a gentle beast... but they don't!
okay, stepping off my box...
pictures:



just look at my sally! isn't she sweet!?! perfect model


psssst.... did you notice my little tag on the first pic? woohoo! ed for ewedevil. clever, eh? there is a little red heart on the flipside. :D more on this later.

oh, and. he (josh, my dane) made the front page! a photographer from the local paper took some pictures of him and used one as the photo for the coverage of the event. pretty funny.

i loosely followed the pattern on CrochetMe. there is not a pattern for the collar, i just made it to match. i stole the hardware from some old worn out leashes/collars/belts we had around the house. i used and E hook and nylon string fround in the hardware department at walmart.

my daughter's surgery went as smooth as can be. she went in at 9am and was home resting on the couch by 12:30. crazy, huh!?! she was given a prescription of tylenol3, but she hasn't needed it. i've only had to give her regular kid's tylenol twice. she is doing just fabulous.

pincushion challenge

Booga J has started a fun challenge!
making pincushions :D


the month of May is fruit

my contribution:


pretty cute, heh?
it's needle felted with the 'seeds'embroidered on with red dmc floss. the stem is a bit of teal/purple i spun a while back. i gave it to a lady who helped me in a pinch the other day - vic and i were on a field trip with my girl. after the nature reserve, we went to a restaurant that DOH didn't take checks. i never carry cash so she picked up lunch for my little guy.

my kiddos do not have school today (using up their final snow day). there are only 4 days of school left. they are about to just come unglued waiting for summer.
i'm ready... i think :P

also, be thinking of my babygirl tomorrow (tuesday). last year she broke her arm good and needed some screws, a plate and rods. tomorrow, they have to be removed. it's just a 'day surgery' so they are expecting her to be out of the hospital by late afternoon. but i'm still nervous.... that's the mom's job, right?

getting crafty

May project spectrum: Green
does painting the walls of my hall count?
i'll post a picture later.

a friend of the family has turned 8. i made this litle teddy bear for her as a gift.










you think she'll like it?

materials:
2 socks, 1 sheet felt, 2 buttons, embroidery thread, and polyfill.
time:
ummm, kinda hard to say, i guess 3 hours. it is completely hand stitched.

oh! i've got something green to share.

HELP! what would you do?

i think i have told you that part of the reason for my hereandthere posting is because of remodeling/revamping going on at our home.
here is my biggest dilemma:
my craft room. it is 10X9. it has 3 fabulous windows that provide me with viewing of the backyard to keep an eye on the kiddos. 2 that face east and 1 south.

the north wall is complete cabinets, wall to wall, ceiling to floor - with a great counter for working:



this is the what the top looks like. the bottoms have just one board - so 2 shelves - both a nice big roomy size.
the west wall has the entry door into the craft room (from the kitchen)

here you can see the amount of space from the windows until the cabinets begin (not much) on the east wall.


if you had this room. how would you set it up?
my sewing machine will be in our study, so that's one thing i don't have to worry about. oh, and my hilary (spinning wheel) will most likely be in the living room)
all of my craftiness needs to fit into this room.
i sew (my fabric is stored in rubbermaid bins in the garage because there is NO way all of it will fit in the house) but i do need to keep my "supplies" in here.
i spin - i need to store my wool, niddynoddy, ball winder.....
i needlefelt - small amt of storage needed for needles and styrofoam
i bead
i knit and crochet - needles and hooks and all other notions need a home as well as yarn.
i'm learning to embroider - so i also need to store all my threads for this
i also do tons of scrapbooking, but this has it's own designated closet - so none of this is in this room- *whew!

and DON'T advise me to drop a craft. it's NOT going to happen. :P

oh, yeah, it looks all crazy in this pics, this is before the painting and ripping up the floor and taking down all the hidious wall paper.....
afters will come later.


HELP! what would you do?

frog porn

(i'm scared to think what kind of lewd searchers landed here!)

so, i'm at the thrift store with my #4 (3 yrs old). i'm searching their craft supplies and he is digging in a box of beanie toys - we're happy. he shows me this itty frog that he's found and says "pwease" of course!
so as i'm loading him up in the suburban, i say to my innocent child, "can i see your froggy?" i look at it, telling him what a cool choice he's made. isn't this a cute little frog!?!

it's obviously something someone hand made, so i flipped it over to look at it's design ..... HOLY COW!
it's pornfrography!!

do you believe that!?!
so my precious, darling, little one says "it's got a flower". why, yes it does, and a rather large one at that!

what's a mom to do? i can't take it away from him now. and he does think it's just a flower. so i let him keep it. later that night, he came to me with a puffed out lip and said "froggy has a hole" "oh no! let me see it." ( tug tug tug) "it's a kinda big hole, buddy. i don't think i can fix it. but i can make you a new one!" so, with my handy seam ripper, the porn frog became a pattern. one hour later and a more kid-friendly - cheetah frog!

the boy was very happy with his new frog but did want to know why this one doesn't have a flower.

Allegiance

I pledge allegiance to the flag

of the United States of America

and to the Republic for which it stands,

one nation under God, indivisible,

with Liberty and Justice for all.

painting and puffy puppy

my posts have been too far apart. i know.
behind the scenes there is much going on. not much that is crafty, but i've been a very busy little girl. we are completely re-vamping our home. we have painted EVERY room in the house, including ceilings and i have all the trim-work to go. i did go through the house and take pictures of every room "before". i haven't taken any "after" yet, because i wanted to wait until the door/window trims, baseboards and crown mouldings are painted. the difference is amazing.

i've been attracted to sewing stuff lately. weird. i haven't had the slightest desire to get out my machine in about 4 years and now... i can't wait to get my craft room back together so that i can set it up. soon.

look at my sad, sad puppy.

something bit him and he had an allergic reaction. poor thing. are you ready for this - you're gonna crack up. the vet prescribed Claritin for him! it knocked him out cold. my poor Josh fell asleep and didn't move for almost 4 hours! it really scared me. hubby is at work, all the kiddos are home (no school today) and here i am freaked out that the dog is in need of going to the vet's office.... my thoughts are how in the world am i going to get this 220 pound dog in the suburban!?!

he's doing much better now. the swelling is about half what it was this morning and he ate.
poor baby.

blurb!

OMG! i got a blurb :D :D

if you are not yet reading Whip-Up, you are seriously missing out.

*giggle* they called me a "bi-processor of yarn". i accept.
take yourself over there right now - and don't forget to read this entry

i'm all smiles. thanks, regina!

Bb

the letter Bb in Amarillo ...

ya hungry? i mean REALLY hungry?

the Big Texan, home of the FREE 72oz steak. if you can finish it all in under an hour. and they mean all, salad, baked potato, dinner roll and 72oz-(the rules)-let me do the math for you - that's 4 1/2 pounds of beef. folks, that's a LOT of food! if you fail, you just bought yourself a $200.00 meal.
the offer began back in 1960. since that time, 37,000 people have tried to consume this monstrous meal, with only 6,200 succeeding.
if you opt for a meal from the menu, don't forget the appetizers: diamondback rattler (that's rattlesnake for you non-Texans) or mountain oysters -ummm, delicately named calf-fries --ummm, delicately named cow balls.

Amarillo also can boast about our very own, Botanical Gardens.

beautiful.

a frequent flyer of the Amarillo skies:
the Osprey

Bell Helicopter is one of the major employer in town. Amarillo is the primary site for system design and development, integration, assembly and delivery of production military aircraft. (okay, so i cheated and took this off their site, all i know to tell ya is that they make the Osprey for the military here.)


sorry for the huge gap between entries, my laptop died. dead. being able to wrestle the desktop away from my children and hubby is not an easy task, add to this that the computer is hooked up to the one and only television in our home and well, my time is limited.

A is for...

Amarillo (again)

Yes, I've done it once before, but decided I didn't do it as well as I would have liked... so - Take Two:

Amarillo, Texas - my hometown.

Population: 182,462 (and steadily growing)

With a city slogan of ... Amarillo, a great place to live

Okay, so it's a little corny, but it truly is a nice place to be. A good sized city with a small town feel. A very eclectic town, that's for sure. From cowboys (the real ones and drugstore) to the elite and goth and everything in between, this place has it all. Over this coming year, following the ABC Along, you'll learn quite a bit about this town I call home.

The summers are hot and the winters cold, autumn is brisk and spring wet (well, sorta). March/April and May are littered with great thunderstorms and tornadoes. June/July/August and into September are HOT - frequently reaching temperatures above 100*. There is virtually no humidity here and the wind never stops blowing... ya know that blast of heat you feel when you open a hot oven? Yeah, it's like that. The autumn is great with a show of color on minimal trees (the Texas Panhandle is, well... flat) and the constant breeze turns cool. In the winter - snow. Yes, it's snows in Texas. Not usually all winter, but for a few weeks, we usually get dumped on pretty good.

My kiddos love it here. There are lots of things for them to participate in and their entire family ('cept aunt sissy and auntie sherry) are here. Family functions are frequent and they have a huge cheering section at all their soccer/karate/school and every other activities.

A is also for Astronaut. Amarillo's International Airport was renamed in rememberence of Rick Husband, an Astronaut who was from here. Rick Husband was the captain of the Space Shuttle Columbia. All 7 of her crew perished upon re-entry on Feb 1, 2003

Amarillo College - Change your tomorrow, Enroll today!

I hope I have intrigued you and that you've enjoyed this little bit. Remember, I have the rest of the alphabet to go ... all about Amarillo.

more red

staying within color scheme, my work of late:

the lovely LadyLinoleum has a casting call for "tomatoes from the edge". Mikail Mato (made of 100% handspun -by me) is my contribution:

the ever handsome Dude has made a request for 12" squares. He is involved in a wonderful charity: Heartmade Blessings. this is the square i put in the mail on saturday:

after hearing about the fingerless mitts i made my grandpa, my mom asked for a pair. her office is a bit chilly and having had surgery for cts, the warmth on her wrists while she types all day is a good thing. and for my mom to actually request one of my crafty things... i jumped right on it. i'm using a ww lion brand wool ease, red with multicolored speckles. she requested no thumb and i wanted to make it a little more girly - so i chose a cabled pattern. here is the first one:



a quick funny on 2 of my kiddos. i swear on a flock of sheep these are exact words!
i've told you before how my 3 year old loves feeding frenzy. so he sits, obsessed with enlarging his little fishy by consuming the smaller ones. with his older sister by his side with words of encouragement, "i believe in you, baby vic, i know you can do it" - how could he not? and then at last a ppbbbbbllliiiiing, from the computer, my boy raises his hands in triumph and yells "dreams do come true!" that's right friends, he passed a level he's been on for a while now :D

could you, would you, on a train?

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

shall we celebrate with cake and ice cream? absolutely not! only one way to properly salute this great author of amazing children's books ---

Say!
I like green eggs and ham!
I do! I like them, Sam-I-am!
(yes, this really was our breakfast this morning)

a great website for the young ones to play on: www.Seussville.com

hope you have a terrific day.... read a Dr. Seuss book to a child today (if you don't have one, borrow a kid from the neighbor), pass on the love of the Sneetches.

at the RED-y

yes, it's true, i can't resist a fun a-long

"The idea of Project Spectrum is simply a celebration of the colors around us, and taking the time to notice them. Each month over a six month span will be devoted to a color group - participants can knit, dye, crochet, weave, spin, stitch, paint, scrapbook, sew, quilt, cook, grow, photograph, bake, or bead items in that color group (of course all arts and crafts not mentioned here also count!). "

the game plan:
March - Red and Pink
April - Orange and Yellow
May - Green
June - Blue
July - Violet / Purple
August - Neutrals / Black & White

my plan:
March - Red and Pink - arm warmers for my mom in red and kick it boots in pink for me and finish a hot pink necklace for my sis sherry (who has an interesting post on mardi gras up today), that is in the weaving in stage that sucks so bad
April - Orange and Yellow - undecided, although i have this really really great bulky wool rug yarn in bright orange that i desperately want to make a felted backpack for my daughter but have yet to find a pattern-suggestions?
May - Green - undecided (possibly something for my bil who is an A's fan)
June - Blue - Christmas blanket for my dad
July - Violet / Purple - Christmas blanket for my sister, chelle
August - Neutrals / Black & White - undecided

watch for the new button and progress on the side bar ---->

so this will be fun to see explode all over blogland. what are you going to make for march?

in other news:

my gold