{ This Moment }

Joining Amanda from Soulemama for This Moment. A single photograph from the week, a moment I wish to pause, savor, and remember.

baby blanket

The baby blanket is coming along slowly but surely. It is actually a very calming and super easy knit. I calculated how many stitches will go into this wee baby blanket... over 30,000.
I have also decided to try and knit up a Shalom Cardigan for my oldest daughter before December 21st. So, the baby blanket my go on hold for a bit, I am still waiting for the yarn to arrive. I decided to knit it in Quince and Company's Puffin in glacier. Such a beautiful yarn. I am really excited to whip this sweater up.

Joining Ginny from Small Things for Yarn Along and Nicole from Frontier Dreams for KCCO.

Weekending and Grartitude

Joining Amanda from the Habit of Being for weekending and Taryn from Wooly Moss Roots for Gratitude Sunday.

It has been a wet and cold weekend here in Arizona (well cold for us anyway). We turned on the heater because we are a bit wimpy and had a fire in the fireplace. The sky has been overcast for days now, since Thrusday, and I am just not good with days and days of no sun. How we lived in Maine for almost 2 years I will never know.
I foolishly ventured out to a mall to find this mineral shop to by each of the kids a cool stone for the first Sunday of Advent... good night! No wonder I don't "do" the mall any longer. It is crazy there, and a bit traumatizing. I think the rest of the holiday shopping will be done either on-line or at local shops. Sis and D came over for dinner Saturday evening and there was lots of music played.
This morning all the kids slept in until well past 8 AM and that gave me a bit of time to myself that wasn't in the middle of the night. Mike and Cae made eggnog pancakes and bacon for breakfast. And there are no real plans for the day... so maybe it will be cuddling up with a fire, a sappy Christmas movie, and some knitting on the baby's rainbow blanket.

List of Gratitudes:

~ Eggnog
~ firewood
~ a wet weekend
~ feeling the wee baby move everyday
~ finding lovely rocks at the mineral shop
~ the living room cluttered with toys
~ listening to Caelan singing George Strait songs
~ the laundry being done AND folded
~ breakfast made by someone other than me
~ having a kitchen full of food

{ This Moment }

 Joining Amanda from Soulemama for "This Moment". A single photograph from the week, a moment I wish to pause, savor, and remember.

More knits and reads

Joining Ginny from Small Things for the Yarn Along and Nicole from Frontier Dreams for KCCO.

baby blanket

fingerless mitts

I hardly ever knit more than one project at a time, but I was so wanted to start this baby blanket that I decided I would cast it on now and work it in the evenings and the fingerless mitts (a holiday gift) during the day. And those mitts are just flying off the needles. As of this writing I have about 1/2 an inch of ribbing left at the top and I just need to cast off mitt number 2. Then I am pretty much done with the holiday knits. Maybe, just maybe, I will work another project or two depending on how the gift giving thing works it self out, but for the most part I am done.
Now I can focus again on baby knits, because honestly they are so much fun to knit. The gown I was working on... well I am not liking it. So, I think I will frog it and do something else with the yarn. It is lovely yarn so I must find a nice project for it.
I got some sock yarn in the mail and I am planning on knitting this and maybe a pair of socks (or two) for Fiona Rosy, because she asked and how can I say no to her?? She is just so super sweet.
I am plugging away at my childbirth ed/postpartum doula/breastfeeding counselor training. Making sure I do a section every three days. At this rate I should be completing all three programs in a year. Fingers crossed!

Weekending

Joining Amanda from The Habit of Being for weekending.

Have you ever been driving and suddenly arrived at your destination and have no real memory how on earth you go there and you think to yourself... good lord, how did this happen?
The weekend sort of felt like that. I remember it starting and then BAM we are at the end of it and I have no real idea what happened to the whole darn thing. How did we get to 12:33 AM Monday morning? Where on earth did the weekend go?
I knitted some, got frustrated and frogged a project that took most of the weekend. Watched a few very, very  bad disaster movies, started drinking coffee again. Saturday we went and helped out the Mother in Law shut down her cooler, put away her fan collection, and cover her cooler vents. The kids watched movies and loaded up on enough processed food to keep them going all day and well into the night. We moved over to my parents house for a couple hours to celebrate my niece's 9th birthday with some cake ad ice cream. The cousins played and laughed and were loud and crazy and had to be sent outside, which they enjoyed immensely.
Then suddenly it was 2 Pm on Sunday afternoon and we picked up Sis for her weekly Sunday visit. And that time seemed to fly by and it was time for her and D to head home and it was time to get the kidlet's to bed, and now here I am...
Another long and fast week ahead. Some how the days seem to take FOREVER to get through, but the weeks fly by. Thanksgiving is less than 2 weeks away and then suddenly it is head long into advent, Yule and Christmas. And then a few weeks after that we will be welcoming baby number 7 into the world. I just feel so unready for it all. Is there someway to just slow it all down by like 1/2??

* Gratitude Sunday *

 Joining Taryn from Wooly Moss Roots for Gratitude Sunday. Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes...

~ the steampunk exhibit at the library
~ the kids crafting together
~ days at the park
~ great phone conversations with friends
~ the temperature dropping below 80 degrees
~ sappy Christmas movies
~ cookie butter from Trader Joe's
~ very good friends
~ coffee
~ the wonderful stranger who paid for my coffee at Starbuck's on Friday, I so needed that coffee and it was such a sweet surprise that I actually started crying

{ This Moment }

Joining Amanda from Soulemama for This Moment. A single photograph from the week, a moment I wish to pause, savor, and remember.

Things and Stuffs

making lanterns

wee bit of fall color in our mystery tree

climbing rope

painting

more painting

Little bit from the week so far...

Knitting

Joining Ginny from Small Things for Yarn Along and Nicole from Frontier Dreams for KCKO...

St Nicholas Day hats

gown for baby

fluffy mail

I have been slowly working on a gown for our soon to be wee babe. I just sort of altered the Puerperium Cardi by closing it off after 4 buttons and then knitting endless rounds of stockinette stitch. I need it to be maybe 24 inches long or so and it is taking forever. But I was very much inspired by the lovely baby knits that Ginny did that I just had to figure out how to make a gown. I wish the camera did justice to the lovely shade of greenish blue, it really looks nothing like the picture.
Realizing that we were well into November and I needed to come up with some St. Nick gifts for the kids, I decided that this year good old St Nick would be bringing the kids hats (along with chocolates and peppermint sticks). So, I just needed to get busy knitting. I am using the same type of yarn for each hat, just different colorways. The Swish Tonal by Knitpicks is lovely. I picked out six colors and I have so much left over after each hat that I am trying to come up with something fun to do with all the extra yarn. Maybe each child will get a pair of fingerless mitts in their stocking come Yule morning.
Since I had to order yarn, I went a bit nuts. Some of the yarn I know I had a project in mind when I ordered it but for the life of me I can not remember what those projects are! This wee baby is using up all my brain cells! (haha) Considering a bunch of it is sock yarn I am guessing I was planning on knitting socks... I guess I have some sock knitting to start at some point.

* Gratitude Sunday *

Joining Taryn from Wooly Moss Roots for gratitude Sunday. A Sunday tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.

~ Beautiful sunsets
~ Nice cool mornings, sweater mornings
~ Hot cocoa
~ Pumpkin baked into almost everything
~ Easy, quick, nourishing dinners
~ Fiona still taking naps occasionally
~ Trader Joe's dark chocolate covered, salted almonds
~ Autumnal picture books in a basket by the bed to read every night to the kiddies
~ Rowan's humming while he draws
~ Family dinners around the table
~ Fairy lights around the back porch and the front door
~ Fiona mastering the slide at the park
~ Watching the new hawk in the neighborhood in the mornings (the chickens are not too happy about it though)
~ Making glittery lanterns for Martinmas

sleepy girl

Archery

Cae and Sagan are both taking archery at the moment. It is really amazing to watch them find this new passion and do well in a class. Both have been homeschooled forever, never having gone to school. Sagan tends to shy away from any sort of structured learning, but after watching his brother in the first class he decided that he would give it a shot. And he is loving it. They both are. It is really amazing to watch them get the hang of this pretty complicated skill.

sagan aiming

cae aiming

{ This Moment }

Joining Amanda from Soulemama for This Moment. A single photo from the week, a moment I wish to pause, savor, and remember.

Truthful Tuesday: Learning to chill

I have an issue with chillin'. I can't seem to just sit still and let stuff be. I ruminate A LOT, and fuss with stuff and I am FOREVER picking up or doing something. Even on days when I swear to myself I will just let things be, I can't seem to help myself... I am up messing with things.
And my poor brain, it never gets a break. I am never an empty vessel of calm thoughts or no thoughts. Things are always flying around in there, flitting from one thought to the next, "what about this? no wait, what about this? NO wait, what about THAT!?" I told Mike the other day that thank goodness for my uncontrollable thoughts, because that is why this house is not a disaster zone. To quiet my mind (sorta kinda) I keep my body busy cleaning, ALWAYS cleaning something. When there are family issues, watch out! I am after those bathrooms, scrubbing toilets is as good as scrubbing my mind (not that my house can pass a white glove test by any stretch).
I so desperately want to just be able to put my feet up, have a nice cup of tea, and knit something, or read a book, or laugh with the kids, or have a chat with my dear lover... and yet day after day after day for at least a good decade, I am all over the place. I keep searching for that ONE magic thing... that thing that will do the trick that will help me chill. That book, or rhythm, or schedule or SOMETHING!!! It is so elusive, the chill.
And, yet, I will still search for it. The ability to just sit and enjoy the chaos of life instead of forever trying to tame it.

Weekending

Joining Amanda from The Habit of Being for weekending...

This weekend started out Friday after we decided to skip park and stay home and chill, I think now that maybe we should have gone to the park. The kids about drove me nuts with their bickering, BUT Friday ended on a high note with dinner out by the fire pit. Roasting hot dogs over open flames is always something the boys love doing. Of course, if they could only get the fire safety element firmly planted in their heads it would be a heck of a lot less stressful for daddy and I.
I made the choice of NOT getting dressed and declaring I was doing NOTHING at all on Saturday except knitting baby socks and watching some Netflix, maybe I would make dinner... if everyone was lucky. After having spent 4+ hours cleaning on Thursday, then driving across town to do Halloween at a friend's hood, walking about a million miles (ok, not really), dealing with bickering all Friday and more house work and feeling as if my pelvis might just crumble to bits (darn relaxin) I was just gonna sit and chill. And you know what... I mostly did. And it was wonderful. An old friend was in town with her son and they came over for a bit, Logan and H hung out and played music and K and I talked and caught up with each other. It was great. I even made The Pioneer Woman's Corn and Cheese soup (which was so freaking tasty).
Sunday was spent with Mike and the boys making a film short... so amazing how much work must go into 2 minutes of edited film. They had a blast doing it, and that is what really matters.

* Gratitude Sunday *

Joining Taryn from Wooly Moss Roots for Gratitude Sunday. Sunday's heart felt tradition. A time ti slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.

~ Having a wonderfully ghoulish, candy filled Halloween with friends.
~ After 4 hours of serious cleaning, having my house spic and span for a couple hours on Thursday
~ Pioneer Woman's corn and cheese soup... YUM!
~ RAIN! Even if it lasted all of 15 minutes, it was cold even
~ A visit from a dear friend. I miss her so much, it was so great to sit and talk for a few hours on Saturday
~ My yarny goodness arriving in the mail on Saturday... so many knits to start
~ Holiday plans in the making, gift ideas forming, shopping plans looming
~ Having Fiona and Rowan all snuggled in bed with me in the mornings
~ Hot cocoa with marshmallows
~ Time spent outside
~ Lovely visit at a friend's house during the week, how she has people over all the time I will never know... but she does it so gracefully and it is so wonderful to spend time talking with her