Where did April go?

What a crazy last few days.......

In addition to meeting the infamous editor of Bust Magazine and the famous Stitch N Bitch Nation books (see my phunky knitting blog!) I have been super busy with work and LIFE!!!!!!!

Man o man - where has April gone... it has just FLOWN by.........

I thankfully (after tomorrow) have this weekend OFF!!!!! I am looking forward to time with the fam! It is suppose to rain and I am thinking great snuggling knitting weather with Nat and great snuggling reading weather with Rowan!!!! Maybe we will do a movie?????? hmmmmmmm

Next weekend - NEXT WEEKEND - is the Scrap Expo in Chicago! I am geeked. I need to get some scrapbooking mojo back!!!! I have several classes to go to as does the hubby! Nat is sharing a class with me and then they have POOL time at the hotel!!! (The expo is in Oak Park and we are making it a get away weekend! LOL).

I am hoping for some major down time and relaxation!!!!!

Oh - and the other fabulous news!!!!

I GOT MADONNA CONCERT TICKETS!!!!!!

So geeked....

okay just very exhausted - must.... get.... some...... sleep......

Most Awesome Book signing!

Yesterday (amongst the othe dozen things I did) I attended a book signing at Arcadia Knitting. The mother daughter team were delightful. They cracked me up! Both read from their book and told wonderfully funny stories about differences and similarities between them. I can't wait to be able to sit down and read this book!!!!

I have read her book "Quirky Kids" and highly recommend it to anyone in pediatrics or anyone that has an Autistic, PDD, or other type of child!

Okay - back to work!

Serenaded!!!!

I was serenaded today. It was SUCH a BEAUTIFUL day out (not to hot not too cool not too windy!!!) - I had the windows open, kicked back on the sofa knitting when I heard this wonderful blues guitar music coming from the street. So - as it continued (thinking it was the neighbors) I went outside to take a gander. At the end of my street there was a small congestion of traffic. I sauntered on down to check it out and found this......




Conan O'Brien at the Blues House on Halsted playing the guitar!!!! Rather well I might add!!!!!!

I just LOVE this city!!!! LOVE IT!!!! Where else would one see this (other than New York and the Rats in New York are bigger - so I would rather stay here!!!)

While I am not a GREAT Conan O Brien fan I do find him funny the few times I watch him (I am usually at work when he is on!) He plays rather well and this was a GREAT treat on this fine sunny Spring afternoon!!!!!

Okay - back to some serious knitting before I have to go on into work!!!!

He is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed!!!!

For a most AWESOME post on Easter go to BonnieRose's Blog site! I could not have posted better!

And - BTW - Bonnie - Our Pastor just happened to quote the same passage in the beginning of our service. What a Godcidence!!!!!!

What a lovely Easter we had here - our fam and I!
Church was GREAT, The Day was Great!

This is probably the first Easter I have had OFF in FOREVER! It was so nice to be home with the Fam!!!!! I am diggin working less....

Now - my SBing Habbit and Yarn habbit might interfere with this (LOL).... But I love not working as much and spending more time with the girls!!!!!!


The girls LOVED thier baskets! The weather was most awesome until after church and then it was just a very nice SPRING Rain!!!!

We were able to sneak the Easter Egg hunt in just prior to going to church!!!!!


Our Ham dinner was most delic! I am still sucking in water from all the ham I ate! (LOL)


AND - bababababooom - I actually started to scrapbook tonight. I wasn't majorly into it - but I did get a page or two done.

Nat did have a bit of a hormonal upset today - tears, sobs, cramps, you name it... (she is EIGHT) but after we got to church - all was fine.

Nat and I curled up and knitted while watching "What a Girl Wants." VERY cute movie. Highly recommend it. Very clean, cute, happy ending.... No Lindsey Lohan around to ruin it.... (sorry Lindsey).


Here are the Lime Green Crocs the Easter Bunny left us!!!!! Are they not just DARLING!!!!!!





The girls love them. Natalie didn't take hers off and in fact I think that Nat is wearing hers in bed right now. Rowan - I was a lil worried about - wanted to wear them to church with her dress (LOL)



And here are the REAL shoes that were suppose to be worn today and were indeed worn!!!!!!


Now - not that I am trying to show off my 10 cent Pedicure I did myself - minutes before leaving for church... but I wanted to show off the incredibly matronly looking skirt and shoes (okay maybe not the shoes). My hubby SWEARS it reminds him of Basic Grey.... I think he has lost it!!!!!




And here are my beautiful girls with their FAVORITE friend - Elizabeth! Wearing their scarves I made for them to go with thier outfits. They picked out the yarn and I knitted the scarves... They also picked out the design.... See my knitting blog for more on that one!!!! LOL!!!!

Now - while I am typing this - the hubby and I are finishing up Movie weekend as I work on a new Knitting project (grunge hat to go with my grunge scarf.) We are watching the Interpretor. Maybe I am a lil biased because it was filmed in my favorite all time city and showed some of my most fav places to be in.... AND it has alot of political rallying against the wrong things that go on in Africa.... but it was a really good movie.... Must recommend it.

We are going to head over to the dark side now.... Ringu Too. I am a huge sucker for Asian films. I would rather watch Ringu and Ringu Too than the Ring - so that is what we are watching next!!!!!

I hope everyone had and equally happy Easter!!!!!

Always remember - Christ is Risen - He has Risen InDeEd!

Easter Baskets are out!!!

I have been up late - (what's new) - finishing their Easter Scarves to go with their dresses for Sunday. I also needed to do their baskets.... There baskets are a Crafters Delight!!!!

There are the LIME GREEN CROCS I got the girls and I! I am so excited about them!!!!






Here is Nat's Basket with a knitting/scrapbook theme. There is also a cute lil purse in the basket that matches her dress - and inside - dress up pearls to go with her dress! Couldn't of worked out better!!!!





Here is Ro's Basket with a Do-a-Dot theme and painting. She loves to do these two things! Of course the same purse and necklace exists along with a bunny in each!

I know they will be up at the crack of dawn!!!!

Now to bed with me!!!!!!! I have to finish my ribbon scarf in the AM before Church!

Luckil Church is at 1400!!!!!

Snap Shots of Saturday TAX DAY

Snap Shots of Saturday
15 April 2006

It was BEAUTIFUL out! Nat and I took a walk, did some window shopping in Lincoln Park and enjoyed the sunshine!

She had to dress up for the occasion. She is such the fashion plate. Unlike her mom that would love to just hang out in jeans in a shirt - Nat has to calculate what she wears out!



I loved these photos of her walking down the sidewalk!!!





she really hammed it up don't you think????





She brought her knitting with her so we could hang at Starbucks for a while and knit together. Have our lil Stitch Nitch as she called it!





Order of a tall hot choc, soy with whip cream for her and a green tea latte for me. (Looks like Rota Virus to me but tastes yummy!!!!!)




Prior to our Stitch Nitch we went to Block Buster and rented lotsa movies. I haven't been in a Blockbuster in Ages (actually they mentioned that when I was checking out - they had to update our acct.) I use Netflix - and now I know why. $37.00 later and 7 movies we walked out (okay there were two buckets of popcorn there too!)





We had MOVIE night at our place tonight! We got through "Your's, Mine and Ours" (Cute) and "March of the Penguins" (which my girls love!) Then we watched "Bachelor" and the "House of D." We still have three more movies for Sunday!





After the knitting nitch at starbucks we then took off for Target and Joann's. I needed to finish up some last minute things for the Easter Baskets and get the girls Sandals. I sent them with Dad to get the Sandals (big mistake - but they are happy - that is all tha matters) and I took off for JoAnns.....

Easter Basket Saga - to be posted on Sunday!

I hope everyone is having an Equally beautiful Spring Day!

Fun Fact Friday!

Fun Fact Friday

• I use to be a Gator (and if you cut deep enough I bleed Orange and Blue). I graduated from University of Michigan and do still bleed Maize (it is YELLOW - YELLOW) and Blue.
• I grew up on the beach and have the most alabaster skin tone in the world. Sun makes me wilt.... Some cruel joke God played on me huh? You can look but you can't go lay in it! LOL!
• I was (in the 80's) a Big Petra fan. (Didn't they just finally break up?)
  

2 Peas Challenge!

Challenge: (now don't laugh at my answers!!!!!!!)

1. List 5 hobbies that sound fun, besides scrapbooking!

Spinning, Golfing, Dog Showing (not sure if that is a hobby), Graphic Design, Photography

2. List 5 classes that sound fun!

Flight classes (airplane), sign language, disaster preparedness, Grapic Design classes, wine tasting/pairing classes.

3. List 5 things you personally would never do that sound fun.

If it sounded fun - I would probably find some way to do it - like I parachuted and bungi jumed.... But at work there was a sign up for the Fire Fighter's Exam (they make WAY good Money in Chicago) and I think that would be fun to do - but probably never will....

4. List 5 skills that would be fun to have.

A wine cellar, A boat, A jeep wrangler, A pair of roller blades, a hot tub.

5. List 5 things you used to enjoy doing.

Quilting, Cross stitching, gardening, sewing, writing.

6. List 5 silly things you would like to try once.

Write a book, own a business, build a house, road trip around the world, have a HOME BIRTH! (okay not so silly - but I would like to try each of these at least once!)

These are great questions... Thanks Bonnie!!!!

Now back to work!

Things I HEART Thursday!!!!

I feel like I have been out of the blogger ring... I have been so upside down and inside out with the schedule I keep at work (days, eves, nights, days, nights, eves...)
I often forget what day it is!!!!!

I remember - today is THURSDAY!!!!!

So today - I heart - my hubby!

He is the glue that keeps the family together!!!!!

He is the dad all girls should have and doesn't get all itchy when their hormones turn against him.

He makes the house a home and keeps the gears turning on the family schedule.

He is a Stay at Home Dad - but so much more!

In an age where SaHD are not hailed - I praise him for it!
I know that in the future - the girls will look back on their childhood and realize how lucky they truely were for having a SaHD like Norm!

Today I HEART you Norm!

Perspective!

Need to go to sleep - but had a crappy end to a crappy night.......

Had a Vehicular death come in and cap off my night.

Just puts all things into perspective.... you know.....

Couldn't wait to get home to hug the girls!!!!!

2 Peas Challenge!

Challenge:
Pick one. and Elaborate if you so wish!

!. chocolate or vanilla? DARK Chocolate!
2. sandals or barefoot? BAREFOOT - I grew up in Florida and grew up with the barefeet syndrome. I hate socks, I hate shoes and if I had to chose between the two - I would pick barefeet...
3. basic grey or scenic route? BASIC GREY!!!!! It's just so PHUNKY!!!!!
4. primas or HS flowers? PRIMAS - There are so many different kinds!!!!
5. computer journaling or handwritten? Computer. I hand write charts at work (I know we are in the archaic ages - and the computerized charting is a year away) so my hand writing is HORRIBLE and I can type faster than I can write - and I can type without looking at the key!!!!! (Maybe that is why I can knit without looking?)
Now for the scrapbook - I take time set aside to pain stakingly carefully write out what I want to write out. But for plain ole journaling - COMPUTER!
6. Madonna or Gwen Stefani? I use to be a HUGE Madonna fan - she is awesome dancer, singer, song writer.... BUT I JUST LOVE Gwen Stefani and she has replaced Madonna (Sorry Madonna!)
7. Leno or Conan? Uh - neither!
8. Koolaid or Crystal Lite? Crystal light and GREEN TEA! Awesome mix!
9. American Idol or Amazing Race AMAZING RACE - I hate HATE Hate American Idol and that Simon person!
10. catlover or doglover? DOG - Wish I could have one! In Chicago you HAVE to be a DOG lover!!!!

That was fun - a GREAT break from work!!!!

Self Portrait Tueady 4-11-06

Self Portrait Tuesday
4/11/06

I was in my knitting class today.....
Can you tell what I was learning?


Rowan was snapping pictures and laughing at my faces....



It was the Dreaded Double Pointed Needles class....

But you know what?!?!?!? I did it! I was able to finish my two bags. Now I am working on the swatches for embellishment and the I cord for the strap.

So today's SPT is dedicated to my many faces of knitting class....

I know - nerdy - but I am pressed for time. I am in the middle of a four day in a row, school, work, knitting class and LIFE.... This is me.... Taking a 50 minute break from it all!!!!

2 Peas challenge!

Challenge:

Easter is gonna be here before we know it... this weekend.
Do you celebrate the Easter holiday? How do you and your loved ones celebrate this most special time?
What are your special Easter plans for this weekend?
Egg hunt? Bunnies and candy? Church services?
What does EASTER mean to you? Do you celebrate its great significance?

Well..... I usually work Easter Sunday. Sucks to be me. One thing is always true - the girls get new dresses that are "extra special", there is Easter Sunday Service but we try really hard not to give it any more importance than any other Sunday - or the fact that Praise and Worship should occur on Sundays and CHURCH should happen through the week. This Year - I do believe that Nat has made the decision to be "water baptised." So this year will be special. (I don't know how we are going to pull it off with the dress though.......) I am NOT working this year and I WILL be there!!!!!

Also - Easter Egg hunt is very important. Darn if that Easter Bunny doesn't come while we are at church (LOL). And then the baskets... this year the girls are getting "lime green" Crocs in their basket amongst other things. We do not do candy. Usually the baskets are filled with arts and crafts stuff, bubble bath stuff and silly lil toys.

Dinner???? My husband likes to do Lamb. I am not a big person for Lamb. I am not sure what we are doing for food this year??? Ham sounds good.... hmmmmmm

Great thoughts on Easter. I will have to scrap this!!!!

Well blow me over!!!!!!

I am sitting here bummed at work - just not in the mood for work.....

I went down to McDonalds (yes sadly we have a McDonalds in our basement - sad isn't it) to get a POP (fountain pop the best!) and saw that on Mondays there is FREE coffee!

I ask, giddy with excitement, "ooooooh can I still get a free coffee at 2158 at night?" and the person behind the counter says "Yes" (only in Spanish which I can't spell or I would have typed that) and I order a FREE coffee. She asked if I would like anthing else and of course I got my large fountain Pop too - diet coke that is.

Yes I have Caffeine issues...... I am working on that one.......

But Free - FREE - free Coffee on Mondays!!!!! I might just work every Monday now......

Flower Girls!

I am so happy - my daughters are going to be flower girls in a wedding this summer. Actually I am very proud (and honored that they were asked) that they are going to be doing this. The dress is absolutely gorgeous that they will be wearing as well!



Rowan and Nat are ecstatic!!!!!!

But I am happy as well because, not only am I going to pass a few knitting stores along the way - there are a few scrapbooking stores I will be hitting as well.....

Norm's a lil bothered by the knitting stores reminding me that yarn takes up more room than flat paper, but I encouraged him with the scrapbooking stores!!! Yippeee!!!!!

2 Peas Challenge

Challenge:
I type a word.. you type the first thing that comes to your mind... this should be fun... ready? here we go...

1. Harry.... Potter (duh)
2. Black.... Socks (they never get dirty the longer you wear them the blacker they get... it's a song)
3. Delicious... smelicious (what Rowan says when we are cooking dinner)
4. Funny... girl (from the movie!!!)
5. Green... yarn (love green LIME green - I haven't knitted one thing without it yet)
6. Ribbons... galore
7. Internet... savy
8. BBQ... party
9. People... "outta-my-way"
10. Quirky... dirky (something I say to Nat when she has her lil patterns she has to carry out before doing something - her lil quirky dirkies!!!)


( ) was added after I typed in the words - HONEST!

Expensive Weekend

Egads.... between the purse class (that I alread paid for), shelves for the kids room, the new futon matress and cover, my yarn binge yesterday - today we spent even more money! NOT ON PURPOSE mind you. We went shopping for the place.... Nothing like Spring Cleaning to point out things in your mind that might just look good in your abode. LOL! Then of course..... I had to go to JoAnn's..... and look at my find....



Of course I raped the yarn isle just a little. I think.... egads I hate to say this.... I think I am a yarn snob. I am addicted to yarns like Rowan, Cascade, Merino Wool.... JoAnn's has a GREAT yarn supply - but I'll got to Nina's Arcadia or Sister Art Studio any time for yarn.... and probably be VERY happy with my purchase.

I am a Scrapbooking snob (tend to lean towards Rusty Pickle, Basic Grey, Junkits...) too..... I would rather shop at WCS than JoAnn's. What is wrong with me.... JoAnns has some pretty awesome scrapbooking stuff.... As evidenced by these two great books.



The Retro one is mine, this other one is Norms.



THEN I found this great knitting magazines....

I was interested in the article on Knitting without rules. That is so me outside of knitting I can only imagine that is me in knitting!

All together.... it makes quite the booty for a scrap/knit-a-holic don't you think?
My weekend loot......

Now back to work on Monday!!!!!

Snapshots of Saturday

Being off the weekend program at work has allowed me to seriously be OFF on the weekend. I am not working on the weekend - but my hours are filled in during the week. I am thinking the weekend program fits me better. The weekday hours are killing me. The weekend gets here and I am exhausted.

This Satruday - Thank in MOST part to Norm - we did some SPRING cleaning! Yoohoo!!! We started technically in the living room - but the girls room was majorly overhauled as evidence by the following picture!



Norm put up more shleves and we did a MASSIVE purge of all the toys that were misfits and no longer utilized..... it was a sad day for some.... but a catharsis for others.... look at the clean room!!!!!

I also graduated to Circular Needles in knitting!!!! I started a Felted Purse Class on Saturday Morning!!!!

This is the one I started in class and couldn't put down.



This is the one that I started tonight when I got to a point on my class on that I couldn't go any farther!



We also went Futon shopping. We wanted a new cushion and cover for our futon. I would have a photo but the one that Norm took - had a horrible picture of me knitting.... the knitting is okay - the picture of me was not one that I would post.... LOL!

Of course - just the luck - the futon store was RIGHT BY A KNITTING SHOP - NINA's. Such a cool place. This is probably one of my favorite exclusively knitting shops around here. Arcadia might be a lil friendlier but Nina's definitely has some new ways to look at knitting and the yarn is to DIE for!!!! I should know - I walked out ten skeins later - and with this book......



I am already getting ready to start on a hat that will go with my Grunge Scarf that I finished last week (boy have I been a bad blogger....)



Of course - three skeins of the yarn were for Nat. She is making me a scarf out of this really pretty Rowan yarn she picked out herself (honest - she picked it out, brought it to me and stated she wanted to make me a scarf out of it...) and a hand dyed Alpaca for Rowan that has varigated yarn that looks like a veggie plate when it was rolled up. It should make a fun scarf for Rowan!

We went to Leona's for dinner after the shopping experience. We got there just in time. We got there, got our food and were eatting as the Cubby crowds were wandering in.

We then retreated home so Nat and I could kniton our new futon.....



Nat is really knitting (the goldfish box is obscuring it - and Rowan is eatting the goldfish. My kids move like lightening - this was the only picture I could get AND I editted it so as to obscure me. But you can see the new LIME GREEN futon.) We also ordered another cover that is patterned. Nothing like Spring Cleaning!!!

I ended up the last one knitting with the girls curled up on my lap.... such sweet end to a grungy day.

Disgusting

Lindsay Lohan Has Wardrobe Malfunction
Poor Lindsay Lohan. She seems to attract trouble. (Oh wait! You don't think she's doing it on purpose to get headlines? Nah.) Her latest: While bouncing onstage last weekend to accept the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award for favorite movie actress, her Gucci dress defied gravity.

See a photo of the gravity-defying dress shot from a more modest angle than some viewed that day. (Photo: The Associated Press for The Arizona Republic)

There she was surrounded by little kids and tweens and suddenly poof! Her dress flies up revealing a bare behind. What caused THAT? No one is saying. The dress--a short, tan, off-the-shoulder number that somewhat resembled a 1920s flapper costume--might have been caught by a stray breeze, the Arizona Republic facetiously suggested.


I think my girls watched that show while I was at work too...... Egads..... What was she thinking?

LOST update!!!!!

If you haven't seen LOST........ You have to see tonights episode!!!! You just have to.....

I can't believe the ending..... I was only joking in my previous post.... but now I am starting to think they really aren't on an island... they are all apart of a huge mind mojo blojo experiment.....


oooooooweeeeeeeooooooooooooooo

Random Blog Challenge

Join us today if you blog.

Challenge: Do you have a special place/places in your home, where you consider it to be your sanctuary??
You know what I mean, that special place FOR YOU, where you feel cuddled, loved, warm and fuzzy, and at peace?

MY BED!!!!!!

I know that sounds so wrong... but when I am done, spent, over due, stressed, whatever.... my bed. Whether I curl up with a book, magazine, my knitting, my ipod, my Mac or a tv show... my bed is the place to be!!!!

This is also the place that those wonderful secrets between Mother's and Daughters are told as we are curled up reviewing the day!!!



The other place is in the shower. I am not one for a bath because the work it takes to
get the bath ready et al.... and the time it takes away from what lil time it seems I have with my family now. If I were to take a bath I am quite sure I would be sharing it with the girls..... So the shower. I have been known to take very LONG long LONG showers, candles lit, lites off, music playing..... yeah that is relaxation and escape......

LOST

I am LOST...... Literally and figuratively!!!!!



I just can't get back into the Scrappin Mojo.... hence the mess my table is in.... agggggh. I think it's because I don't have BLOCKS of time right now to do anything. What I do have is a spare moment to pull out my knitting (latest obsession) and lose myself. It takes relatively lil creative skill to knit.... but you do lose yourself in it....

Today we went to Target and I spent WAY too much money. The good news is that we went to the SUPER Target near us and they had a whole bunch of ORGANIC food so I stocked up on Silk Milk, organic snacks for the girls and organic staples for the kitchen. I got lil extra stuff or "non-essential items." The bad news..... I spent WAY too much... I'll just leave it at that. I did get.....

I thought these lil photo holders were TOO cute. I am going to make lil photo cards with the new Rusty Pickle Paper I got the other day... perfect for these....













I thought these magnets were cute too. Put them on the fridge and insert lil photos....

MARVELOUS!!!!
These are for my scrap room/office. I am planning on Spring cleaning this weekend and organizing a lil!

I guess you would categorize this as "non-essential" but I can use it to be CREATIVE in the house you know!!!!! How is that for rationalization.

I have also been on dayshift the last few days and the next two - that kinda blows my mojo... I am spent after a day shift. I have lil energy on my days off from night shift, but I am spent after a day shift. I am not sure which is better??? LOL!!!!

I am hoping, with the weekend off, spring cleaning mojo coarsing through my blood and the weather getting so nice out that I get back into the scrappin mojo Saturday and crank out a few layouts.

Right now however... the girls and I are having a PIZZA party and watching my FAV show right now... LOST!!!!! This is the most awesome scifibizzaro show since X files!!!!

Here's my take..... they aren't really on the island. I think they are in a lab somewhwere getting their brain picked by a bunch of geeky/nerdo scienctists doing wacko brain scans and interventions..... ooooohweeeeeoooooo very wierd indeed this show is..... all their desires, fears, history, issues and borderline psycho personalities are so intensified....... there is no explanation for this.....

Alright - must get back to my pizza party!!!!

Snapshots of Saturday

Boy I fell off the Blogging bandwagon..... Been busy I guess.

Snap Shots of Saturday!!!!


We went to a park near our house for a Easter Egg Hunt....






Boy did the weather change indeed. Yesterday I walked to work in a short sleeve and was more than warm when I got to work. Today is OVERCAST and chilly.







Natalie was a lil disappointed in the lack of eggs... for both her and Rowan... They didn't set a limit on the eggs that each kid got and the first one through the gates got the clearly visible eggs instantly....

They did have a Easter Bunny that Rowan was in love with.... she went with the flow.... She is my easy to please child... laid back and free. Check out her SPRING dress with long sleeve shirt. I kept asking if she was cold (as all the other Lincoln Park kids were bundled up as if it was 30 below out!!! ) and she would say ... NOPE I am fine mom!!!!





Alot of the kids were enthraled with the bunny... we didn't stay long after this... Mom felt bad about the Egg deal - so we went for a treat!!!!!










After the park we went to the ice cream store to get ice cream..... A passion I do not share with my girls. I got a coffee...


Rowan tried her first sherbert and loved it...


Natalie was playing all coy with the camera. She is at such an annoying age right now..... OOOOOOOOOOOOOH...... the teen age years are going to be a blast.... can't wait!!!



And then on the way home from the Saturday Morning Adventures.... I found this shop only STEPS from my place...... uh oh..... shhhhhhh don't tell my hubby!!!!!!!