My first socks!

Here are the first pair of socks I’ve made! I used this pattern that I found on Ravelry. I like how they turned out. I knitted one much tighter than the other so the size is a little different, but for house socks it doesn’t matter. For the next pair I make I want to make the opening smaller, do a different heal, add some short rows to the back of the sock to make it a bit higher, and I think that’s it. Please ignore the fireworks on the first picture. It is disguising unsightly unshaven legs.

Tonight I’m starting on a pair of wool soaker shorties using the Little Turtle Knits Picky Pants Pattern. I hope they don’t take too long.

Here are some kiddo photos too. I think Ari will be wearing her presents from daddy for days on end. Thankfully she doesn’t need to sleep in her yellow shirts so they can be washed at night.

I DID IT!

Whew, I made it! Mr. Man comes home tomorrow around lunch time. I am so excited. The kids have had such a hard time with daddy gone. They understand daddy isn’t here but they never understood why. I put pictures of balloons, stars and cupcakes on the calendar and we counted down until daddy comes home. Ari finally understood today that daddy will be home tomorrow.

I got a lot of things done! Things got clean, they aren’t really right now but they got clean. I have tomorrow morning to tidy up when the kiddos are at their best. Tonight the biggest accomplishment took place…I mowed the back yard. About 2 weeks ago I mowed the front yard and when I was going back to the garage I got stung in the ear by something. It hurt so bad. 2 days later it was huge, swollen, and infected. It’s back to normal now. I don’t know when I’ll mow the front yard again, but I’ll tackle the back more often. Any tips for filling in gopher holes are welcome. We have some good ones back there.

I’m still knitting away at my socks. This week they will be done. I’m very happy with how they are turning out. Pictures will come one of these days.

In the world of cloth diapers I have been experimenting with using them at night again. Each thing I’ve tried thus far has worked. I’m having issues getting them really clean in the new front loader. I just keep telling myself that they won’t be in diapers forever. Someday they will learn the whole potty thing.

There’s a quick update. I’m sure pictures of Brazil will follow.

Leaving on a Jet Plane…

Sadly I’m not the one leaving on a jet plane today. Mr. Man is now up in the air in route to Brazil for a week. He’s going for part of his internship. He’ll be speaking at part of a national conference and doing some other ministry work. I’m very excited that he’s going but I wish that I was going with him.

Miss Ari Grace had a very hard day. She was frumpy all day long, and cried and cried when daddy left. I know I’ll be fine with him gone, but I feel bad for the kiddos. They’re old enough to understand that daddy is gone but don’t have concept of time yet. I’m going to start a countdown tomorrow to see if that helps anything.

Other than being sad that daddy is gone the kiddos are doing well. Eli still isn’t walking. Ari still doesn’t want to have anything to do with the potty. They are both talking up a storm and are mostly wonderful funny kiddos.

My goal is to get some things clean and organized while Mr. Man is gone. Who knows what will really happen. I’ve also been knitting up a storm. I’m 60% done with a pair of ankle socks. I can’t wait to post some pictures. I’ve got a knitting bug right now and I hope it sticks for a bit so I can make some shorties for the kiddos.

Hope you’re having a good summer!

Yay for a good weekend!

I finally had a really good weekend! Friday after work I just relaxed and went to bed early which was a treat in itself. Saturday I did have to go back to the warehouse I have been living in for work, but didn’t have to stay long. The new diapers, Snappi’s and cover arrived on Saturday! Mr. Man and I went on a date Today was a good day too. Details below…

I love the new prefolds we got! Here they are, well they were here. The photo got moved. They are orange and blue tie-dyed prefolds.

This is the sellers picture from DiaperSwappers. The ones I got were Brown Edged GMD prefolds tie dyed. I got the orange and blue…Go Hope! They fit both kids wonderfully. Toddler Snappi’s are fantastic. That extra inch is all you need. And overall I like the new Thirsties cover. It’s orange, great condition and functions. I just don’t like the PUL touching their skin especially in the hot TN weather. Oh if I could just knit faster. I’m very tempted to get more of the prefolds, but think I can resist.

Yesterday the whole fam went to Wal-Mart and got a pool for the backyard. It’s an 8′x30″ blow-up but thankfully has a filter. I found a cover at Target today so between the filter and cover I hope we won’t have to change the water much if at all. The original plan was to put it on our lower deck in the shade, but after talking with my dad today it might be too heavy to go there. (Mr. Man we might have to come up with a plan B…Just in case I forget to tell you my dad said that.) I can’t wait to get it all set up and have a place to play with the kiddos when it’s super hot and there’s nothing else to do.

One of our good friends came and watched the kiddos last night. Mr. Man and I went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. I really liked it. It stayed true to the classic Indiana Jones movies which I enjoyed. They are doing some major construction just before the movie theater and the only way in is down to 1 lane. When the movie got out the parking lot and road was extremely backed up. After about 25 minutes of waiting we finally got out of the parking lot and when we look at the car in front of us their license plate reads “BEJOYFUL”! God is funny sometimes. We laughed so hard and took a picture. Gotta love camera phones. Since taking a picture of someone’s license plate probably isn’t a good idea no pictures of that will be posted for obvious reasons.

For a treat and father’s day we ate dinner at the Bald Headed Bistro. Hands down the nicest place in Cleveland. We got there right at closing but they sat us anyway. We got to sit at the best table in the house. Ordered the wild game platter which is wonderful(fried quail…Yummo!), had some lovely sorbet, and I had a Guinness for the first time in a long time. My only complaints are 1) it wasn’t on tap and 2) it was way too cold. Now I’m no beer connoisseur, but I have been to the Guinness factory in Dublin and a good number of pubs there and it was much better fresh from the tap in the land it was made.

Anyhoo enough beer talk. The evening was lovely and must happen again.

Today, Father’s Day, the lost holiday. We went to church and I helped run media, Mr. Man grilled up some Hebrew Nationals for lunch, we all had a wonderful nap, Mr. Man had to go to work:(, the kiddos and I got him a present from Target, and now they are sleeping. The only downside to all of this is I have a trashed kitchen to go clean up and mountain of laundry to deal with.

I hope you had a great weekend, and Happy Father’s Day to any dad’s reading this!

Finally Introducing Hunter

Everyone I would like you to meet the newest addition to our family…Hunter.

We have had hunter for about a month now and he has been a great addition to our family. Our neighbor’s told us about him and we couldn’t say no. They had some friends who were moving and couldn’t bring this guy with them. He’s a 7 year old, Australian shepherd mix. He came healthy, up-to-date on all shots, his kennel, toys/leash/food bowls, and everything. He was a well loved dog and his owners did not want to say good bye. The kiddos love their goggie. Ari likes telling Hunter what to do even though he never listens. She has a friend to run around in the back yard with. Eli just gets excited to pet him. Hunter is definitely a good match for us.

Other than Hunter it’s the same thing here. We tried to see if Ari was ready for potty training, but she’s not. So instead I found a deal on some GMD (Green Mountain Diaper) prefolds to use with Ari. Almost all of our diapers have some sort of stay-dry liner to them and that just won’t do for her unless it’s naptime. One of these days she will realize that being wet feels gross. I’m trading a cover with a mama on Diaper Swappers, and got some new toddler size Snappi’s from PinStripes and PolkaDots. I really hope the prefolds fit. They are a non-standard size, but made to be shorter than the toddler prefolds but just as wide. We’ll see in the next few days.

Summer isn’t officially here yet and the heat is already killing me. I can’t wait to move out of the south. Bring on the snow people, bring on the snow!

One of these days I’ll have something more exciting to talk about right?

How long has it been?

Yeah it’s been way too long since my last post. Not a whole lot has been going on. Work has been kinda busy so I haven’t been able to do any blogging there, and I haven’t had much to say once I get the chance. The kiddos and I got to go on an adventure yesterday. We went to see my friend Meridith at Montgomery Bell State Park which is just west of Nashville. I got a DVD player for the car with the headrest screens that are portable, and let me tell you it is SO worth the money! Why couldn’t they have had this when I was little and on long car trips? Ari got to run around after “goggies” all afternoon and just be a kid. She’s never had the chance to just run free like that. Eli was adored by all and just gobbled up all the attention. The ride home wasn’t as pretty, but no need to go there.

Overall things are going well here. I’m trying to get pumped about cloth diapers again. I have a soaker finished that I just haven’t lanolized yet for no good reason. I still need to finish some sewing, but first need to clean the basement. I hope to slowly get some of these things done in the next few weeks.

Thanks to Uncle Sam we’ve been able to get a few new things that I am now in love with. First is our new washing machine. It is a Whirlpool Duet and I love it. Thanks to the great scratch and dent store in town we got it for less than half the retail price. It has a sanitary cycle which I love for kitchen towels and cloth diapers. I’m still trying to find the right detergent combo for diapers but I’m getting closer.

The second thing we got was a Bissell Steam Mop. The only thing I don’t like about it is how hard it is to get the microfiber pads on. Other than that it is wonderful! On the reviews I read people complained about how long it takes for it to warm up and stuff like that. If you plug it in while you’re sweeping up then you will be ready to mop once you’re done sweeping. It’s eco friendly and there will be no more chemicals on our floors which is wonderful. Our floors have been so clean lately. It is so much easier than grabbing a mop and bucket. I could go on, but I’ll stop.

To help me get this cleaning done I got an iPod nano. It’s red and wonderful. I got the little guy because it’s cute, no other holders are needed to wear it, and it was affordable. I download a lot of FlyLady shows onto it to listen to when I’m cleaning once the kiddos are in bed. The only thing I don’t like are the ear buds. I use an old-school pair of regular headphones and they work so much better for me. Ari calls it my “red button”.

Maybe I’ll be able to keep up with blogging a little better. I hope y’all have a good week.

Happy 1st Birthday Eli!

It was Eli’s 1st birthday on Tuesday. We had a few friends over to celebrate, he got a huge cupcake (that he only had part of), and it was a good first birthday. I can’t believe it’s been a year already. I think it really has gone by faster than Ari’s first year. I’m just happy one of the kiddos is still a cuddle-bug for a little while longer.

Miss Ari is now almost an official “big girl”. On Monday she spent her first nap time and bed time in her “big girl bed” and did a really good job. She had turned into a little beaver and was eating her crib. I’ll get some pictures up one of these days to show the damage. So, we decided it was time to switch her over to a toddler bed. Between the new bed and keeping a rubber duck in the crib the chewing on the wood has been kept to a minimum. One of these days she’ll grow out of her new chewing habit, right?

Sadly there’s not anything else in other news. The past few days have been alright. Wednesday was a full day of real work for me. We hauled in all of our merchandise for the auction our office is having next month. Granted, there were others who did a lot more work than I did, but I still got an amazing workout.

And now it’s time to enjoy a new Grey’s Anatomy!

VACATION PLEASE!

What a weekend. Nothing catastrophic happened, but Ari has been something else the past few days and my patience is GONE. I’m tired and feel the funk starting to come back. This is not good people, not good.

I’m an extrovert by nature, but I have a few introvert tendencies and right now I need to have both sides met. I need some serious time to myself and with friends. The closest chance I have for something like this is in June when some of my friends from high school are getting together. I highly doubt I will be able to make it but I really hope that somehow I can. If work, family, and life in general wouldn’t be turned upside down I would jump in the car and take a road trip to Michigan right now.

Sorry for the negative post y’all, but I needed to vent a bit of what’s racing through this mind of mine.

Miss Ari Grace

Here are some pictures of our darling daughter Ari. First she is modeling the dress I made for her. I’m so happy she loves wearing it. I think I need to rip the hem and turn it under twice for more weight since the fabric is so light. Next we have a wonderful outfit she picked out consisting of purple crocs, striped leggings, curious George shirt, too small purple vest, and pigtails. I love it! Last are some pictures of us planting seeds for the fist time. It was messy, frustrating, but fun.

So I actually started our compost pile this week. It’s probably wasn’t started correctly, but it’s started and that’s what matters. My collection pail consists of an old milk jug with a hole cut in the top (with the handle still attached) under the kitchen sink. My plan is to get some pallets from somewhere in town. I used to work at PetCo and I think they might give me a few to make a open box compost enclosure. Next in the gardening process will be to find some wood or old bricks to make the boxes out of. Our wonderful neighbor is going to be helping Mr. Man install something Saturday and I’m hoping he’ll have some tips for us.

Here is one of my favorite finds lately.

There is a huge consignment sale that happens twice a year in Cleveland and this year I sold some stuff and found this there. It has a chalkboard on one side, white board on the other, and a roll of paper on top. $10 people! I love a good bargain. This will be fun for a long time for the kiddos.

Though I am not a fan of Wal-Mart at all I found some pretty good coffee there the other day. I can’t find  a link right now, but it is an organic, decaf coffee that was decaffeinated by the Swiss Water Process. Yay for a healthy decaf coffee that tastes pretty good. Thankfully when I was reading more about the swiss water process I found a bunch of other brands who do the same thing so once this is gone I don’t have to go back to Wal-Mart!

Have a great weekend y’all!

My famous friend

A good friend from high school is in an Adidas ad. Don’t feel like you have to look, but it is quite funny.

I’m proud of you, and like I said it could be a hemorrhoid ad.