Father's Day

Father's Day this year included a "Daddy Daughter Dance" at the Y. Lilli decided she would like "curlies" for the occasion. Thank God for sponge rollers!
Here they are ready for their Saturday night date. Katelyn was not really interested in going, but she provided the jewelery for Lilli's ensemble. I thought it was a very sweet gesture.
Sunday afternoon? Ummmm.... yea, he's asleep in the Lazyboy with a book in his lap. For Pete, that's darn close to Heaven.

Shop Space

Months ago, Pete and I decided that our 2 new businesses (his home theater and my embroidery) had officially over run our home. There were piles and stacks everywhere. The hardest hit was the porch. After months of searching and praying then praying some more, we rented shop space. A front space for me with windows and a glass door and a back office for him. In exchange for painting ourselves the landlord gave us a month free. Sweet. I picked a Stampin' Up! color called Cool Carribean. I really like it. Pete hasn't painted his area yet. This is my embroidery machine (above).
With much thanks to my friend Linda I learned the glories of slatwall. Look how nice and neat all my hoops, threads and tools are. I can grab anything I need in a flash. Do you know how much faster the jobs get done when I don't have to dig through several boxes before I find what I need? The door on the right is the door to Pete's space. It also serves as storage for all my punches. That's right, I moved all my stampin' stuff to the shop too. You'll have to go to my stamping blog to see that. Pete was concerned that I'd miss my crafty stuff. Truth be told, I love it at the shop. First off, it gives me something to do while the machine runs (you can only watch the thing sew so much!). Second of all, stamping and scrapbooking is a get-a-way for me. I love getting way from the house to stamp and scrap! Linda and I made the table skirts and curtains for the front window. I hate sewing but I'm really glad I did. I don't know how I would have done it without Linda! She shopped with me and ironed and pinned and cut and tried to make sense of the measurments with me. That's a true friend!

A Wonderful birthday!

We won't be mentioning how old I am. If you really want to know, Lilli sings like a canary. I had gotten away with telling her a much younger age for a long time, but Pete spilled the beans! Mom took us all to Osaka, a local Japanese steakhouse. I had steak, lobster, and shrimp, hold the noodles and rice. Man was it fabulous. Mom, G.G. and the whole Morris clan came. The day before I got some birthday and weight loss money. Pete took me to the Coach outlet where I bought myself a Coach purse and makeup bag. From Mom I got a new denim Vera purse and wallet. Joy picked me out some wonderful jewelry (which I have gotten many compliments on every time I wear it!). GG gave me cash which went towards some knitting supplies.
That was all Memorial Day weekend. On my real birthday, I had to spend some time at the shop doing some embroidery. While I was gone, the kids did a CRAZY great clean up job on the house (in fact I wish it was still that clean) and surprised me by jumping out when I came in. There was also a banner on the door that said "Celebratin' going on inside!". Cute, huh? Katelyn made the tissue paper flowers and they are very pretty. Pete gave me an Ipod Nano for the Y, which I love and immediately downloaded my Mother's day cd "Donny Osmond Sings the Love Songs of the 70's". Yup. Still love Donny. So I'm old and pathetic. There's a certain satisfaction to being so old that you don't care that you are pathetic and uncool. It's rather freeing!

So it was a great birthday, despite the fact that I am no longer 29...

Yup, Pirates part deux...

Um, how many people do you know look like this at church on Sunday morning. If you go to CCC, you know a lot more than you'd think! It was our first even sequel. Legacy, part II. It was a spin off on the Disney ride. Pete even got pulled up out of a well and spit water! Pirates and spitting in church! Crazy, yet fun and meaningful. Maybe you had to be there, or at least watch it online. Won't be long before the birthday (the church's). Can't wait for that one.

A Bowling Birthday

Here we are in our classic family birthday pose. I worked hard on those bowling shirts and you can't even see the embroidery! I should have thought about that when we posed! Oh well. I made cute pink mini bowling bag purses for all the girls too with their initials on them. They were so cute I made myself one! There was bowling, eating, cake and a sleepover (although there wasn't much sleeping at all!). I can't believe that 14 years ago I was holding a tiny newborn. Dang, time flies!

Annie Get Your Gun

Nope, this is not a call to arms. It's Katelyn in her first school musical. They really did an incredible job. A lot of talent in this group for sure. I was really impressed by the professionalism of the production. Kudos to all involved especially Ms. Tracy who was the director extrodinaire! Look how cute my big girl is!

Finishing my wip confessions...

This little beauty is a summer wrap made from Louet Kidlin. I am digging this stuff!!! I have made a few things out of mohair and I will confess that they all turned in to a cuss fest. It's like trying to knit with cobwebs. Ick. But the kidlin has linen (think euroflax) mixed in with the mohair. Perfect! Standing O for the person who thought of that. Probably someone who was tired of cussing at mohair!

Other wips (but not available for photo shoot at this time) are a log cabin preemie blanket (itty bitty at 19 inches square), and 2 pair of basic anklets. One pair is made out of Crystal palace cotton sock yarn. This is a great thing for Florida! The yarn is rather splitty to work with (though not hideously-definately doable) but makes a great fabric. I would buy more. I must start socks for my sockpal, but must admit I haven't decided what yet. Yarn nor pattern. Hmmmm..... are you my sock pal? She left me with broad choices. I must confess I've never made socks for someone who couldn't try them on while in progress. This will be interesting!

Does it seem odd that I live in Florida and have made 2 wraps in a few short months? As the temps rise here the air conditioning gets colder and colder. You can't hardly go to a movie or restaurant without freezing. Truly this is the time of year when I'm tempted to wear a sweater! This is a major pet peeve of mine!

Time to get back to the wips!

Just because I've dropped off the face of the blogosphere...

doesn't mean I haven't been knitting! Au contraire!! The following projects are submitted for your approval (these are my wips or fo's from the beginning of the year):

First off: Dishcloths! I think I am a little obsessed... What do you think? The top layer are my favorites. The DW dishcloth, the Nubbins dishcloth and the Argosy dishcloth. I think I could live the rest of my life and only do these 3 patterns. The one on the top left is from the Monthly Dishcloth KAL and was a challenge. P2togtbl. Yea. Who invented that stitch? And why? To torture poor innocent knitters? Someone on the list nicknamed it the Demon Stitch. Appropriate. I survived. If you're really observant, you'll notice my ends aren't woven in. I'm crazy lazy about this. I hate it and for no good reason. It's not like it takes that long.

Next up is another of the Argosy series. Go to http://inahappycamper.eponym.com/blog to see the whole series. It's got just enough zip to keep you from going brain dead, but not so much that you can't hear the kids either (or have to shush them). So this is the Argosy Wrap made from SWTC soy stuff that is kind of like Noro Kureyon. I can't remember the name of it! It is much softer than its Noro equivalent. Love it. I'm not usually one to crank out a long project, but stayed true to this one no problem.

Just before I started this, my parents booked a Disney Cruise for all the kids and grandkids in Jan 08. I made this for breezy evenings on the deck. I thought it looked bright and tropical. Can't wait for that cruise! You know I'll be knitting...

Next up is the original Argosy. It appeared in Knitty, I don't know which issue. I had a bunch of the Elisabeth Lavold Hempathy and just was uninspired by the feather and fan shawl it was supposed to be. So I started this and loved it as much as the wrap. I have enough of the hemp to make 3 more Argosys and I bet I will.

Beware if you start the Argosy series!!! It is highly addicting. I don't think I will stop until I've made it all.

Blogger won't do more than 4 pics for me today so I will post again with the rest of my wips.

He's Perfect!!!

Not once, but twice!!!!!! Today was the big State Bible Drill. He had to do a drill last weekend at our church just to be able to attend this one. The first drill he got a perfect score which moved him up to Super Drill. One more nerve wracking drill and he comes up with a perfect score again. You know it's hard to find a specific portion of scripture in 10 seconds. Especially when you have 1 hand! I can't do it with 2 hands! One of the judges said that she told a kid who was complaining of a sprained finger to "suck it up" after she saw Parker. We are so proud of him. We are going to celebrate with dinner at the restaurant of his choice- Osaka. A japanese, cook it at your table place. It is a very good day!

I Did It!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fitness Goal number one achieved!!! I walked a 5K this morning. You can see my finish time. I was hoping to get in under an hour. Maybe I should have run that last little bit. Yea, right!!!!!!! Katelyn finished at 55 and change and my good friend Kimberly took a dive and let me go first, finishing right after me. That's true friendship!

What has this taught me? A lot. I am learning to trust my body. I can be out of breath, tired, sore, muscles hurting and not die. (I used to think I would) Being tired from exercise feels good. It's not really like being tired at all. I do have a competative inner jock and I kind of like her. I love my Y and the people there.

What's next? I really want to do the Danskin Women's Triathlon at Disney in May of 2008. It's not even a sprint level Tri (I can't believe I know that!). Quarter mile swim, 9 mile bike, 2 mile run. I've got a year to get ready. The trainers at the Y say it's possible (hard work, but possible). I've really got to brush up on my swimming (which will be fun for the summer anyway). And figure out a way to ride my bike without my behind protesting greatly! Rode a mile on Monday and thought I'd have a bruise for sure!

Am I dreaming big? Yup. But I've come along way, so I have reason for hope!

It's Saturday morning, 10 am, I've finished a 5k, had coffee, looked at the pictures and blogged about it. And that my friends feels great!

I know it's a lame excuse...

But it's all I've got! This beauty, this whopping, hulking, waaaaay heavy piece of commercial grade machinery is a small part of why I haven't blogged in almost a year. It's a commercial embroidery machine. I can embroider on whatever you'd like. Tshirts, bags, towels, hats,... you get the idea. I'd like to say it's making me a rich woman. I can't. I'm working on it. The sucker comes with a learning curve you wouldn't believe.

Lots of other stuff too. The kids are busy. Which means I'm busy with chauffeur duties. I don't mind, I can always find some knitting time while I'm waiting for them. Soon (like in 2 weeks) we will be done with school and maybe the days will slow down a bit. Probably not, but one must hope.

Big lifestyle changes too. Ended up in the hospital the end of January having chest pains. In fact, I really thought I was going to die. I'm fine. But the cardiologist assured me in the plainest of ways that I wouldn't be for long if I didn't do some drastic changing. I've known what I needed to do for a long time and I don't know exactly why I've been able to stick with it so far this time. I'll just count my blessings and ride this wave. So far I've lost 40 pounds, 11.75 inches (4.5 from my waist alone) and have been to the YMCA six days a week for 3 months straight. I feel great. I'm going to do the first athletic thing I've ever done in my adult life. I'm going to walk a 5k this Saturday. I'm excited.

So that's it. I miss posting and I'm going to do better. I love the little record of the daily stuff.

More soon!