My boys are HOME!

Yes, not one but both of my boys are home!! I arranged for the train tickets and got them to arrive within a half hour of each other. For those of you who don't know. My DS1 lives in Bloomington/Normal IL. My DS2 lives outside of Milwaukee WI. so to get the trains that close was just short of a miracle. DS1 called to let me know his train was running about a half hour late, his was due to arrive first so.... I delayed leaving by about 20 mins. I get to the train station in Joliet ( about 45 mins away from home) I see DS2 walk up to the van. I wass shocked as his train was due in after his brothers. He said when he got to Chicago he was able to get on an earlier train so he did. Poor thing - his cell phone was dead and didn't have enough change to call and see where I was. So he waited in the hot sticky evening air. He was very happy to see me and I apologized for not getting there earlier. Minutes later his brother walked up and we headed for home.

I took the afternoon off today and they helped me out at work this morning. So nice to have them around. Love the DSS's but not the same as your own babies. Sometimes hard to believe they are so grown up as I don't feel that old! I did start earlier than some folks I wasn't a baby momma by any means. A week shy of 21 isn't old or too young. Just planning to enjoy them being home as I know this weekend will go by in an instant. They always do!

I will post pics later.

I've been tagged!

I've been tagged for the first time! Melanie tagged me and now I have to turn around and tag 6 people. I also have to tell 6 weird things about me. Ok here goes. This is hard... I don't think I'm that weird altho my DH could probably answer this with out a problem...lol

1. I eat potato chips with ketchup. I don't think this is weird but my entire family does. To me it is like having ketchup with french fries.

2. I'm a shoe collector. I like buying shoes - you are rarely too fat to fit in your shoes :)

3. I also collect snowmen. I would leave them up year round but family thinks the end of January is long enough.

4. I can't drink milk with pizza. My DH drinks milk with every meal. Milk and pizza just don't mix for me.

5. For a knitter I don't have a huge stash. I try to buy the yarn I need for a specfic project and use it up. My stash in recent months has grown a bit.

6. I have no LYS but hope to someday change that by opening my own shop. We all gotta dream right?!?

Ok. If I tagged you then you need to list 6 weird things about yourself then tag 6 different people you know or blogs you read :) Good luck and have fun. This was alot of fun.

My choices are:
1. Pennie @ Extreme Yarn
2.Tracy @ Wool Windings
3. Lana @ Knit and Pray
4. Libby @Knit Tidbits
5. Natasha @ Gritty Knits
6. Cat @ Cat's Crafty Corner

You're it ladies..... have fun.

Some other things I've finished this summer.

I have been working on squares for Camp Square Crew but I've also finished some things for the Preemie Project also.

Thanks to Jan in Michigan for posting this photo on the Michigan website so I could save it to put on here. I forgot to take a photo -thought of it after I mailed it. Sorry blond moment. I made one of the pink hats on our trip. Need to break up what I'm working on - I get bored way too easy.

The next thing on my needles is going to be a feather and fan baby blanket for my husbands step daughter who is expecting in October. Figured I better get it going now so it's finished. You never now when babies decide to arrive so earlier is a good thing. Plus by the time she is due Christmas is right around the corner, and I will be up to my eyeballs in projects like I am every year.

DH is home this afternoon. Told me he is cleaning and doing laundry. It's amazing how fast I got used to him taking care of that stuff. Now that his business is getting busier by the day, I'm alot more appreciative of him taking care of that stuff. I promised the family favorite dinner tonight in exchange for the hard work. Part of the madman cleaning is an appointment right when I get home from work. Counselor is coming to the house regarding SS1. Having teenagers is always exciting. Never dull. We only have him in the house for another 2 years then lil dude is the only one. The house will be so quiet. It will be a nice change.. altho..having had been close to an empty nester at one point it is very strange at first. Kinda like going home to mom & dads. Not quite what it was like when I lived at home.. back then it was crazy ( I'm the oldest of 4) Now it's only crazy when we all come over at once.. but now we bring spouses and children so it's even crazier!! My coworker is one of 9 I can't imagine the insanity of the holidays at her parents house. Especially because it is a SMALL 3 BR house.

My garden is doing fabulous. The rain in the last couple of days has probably made the tomato plants shoot up even more. I will have to check tonight after the meeting. We are starting to collect tomatos. Peppers are still off in the distant future but they are flowering and budding like crazy. We certainly picked the right spot this year!

We had a fabulous time!

Here we are on the beach. This is Vilano Beach which is in St. Augustine, Florida. I have a huge smile on my face because an hour before this photo was taken, I had lost my glasses in the surf. I prayed really hard and my guardian angel put my glasses into my hand under the water. There were strong wave warnings but after driving for almost 2 days and 1100 miles we went in the water anyway! Mike enjoyed his first birthday on the beach!

We made it!!! Now find a parking spot!

This is for the Jeff Gordon fans in my groups. I'm not a fan of his but I did think it was very cool that he "made an appearance" in the garage area. This was taken on Friday 7/6/07. The afternoon before the Busch race. We paid the extra to get admission into the "Fan Zone". It was worth the $20.00 a ticket. We got to see lots of Drivers and crew. You also are able to see them do the inspections of the cars. Cool to see. Kinda like an upclose parade of the cars and crew.

For the Camp Square Crew Girls - Ricky says THANK YOU!!!

My dear hubby told him about what we are doing for Victory Junction Camp and he thought it was awesome! We only stayed at Speed Channels Nascar Live for a few minutes because we got backstage passes to meet Shooter Jennings who was performing at the same time.

Here is Shooter Jennings. For those of you who don't know he is Waylon Jennings son. We had a great time but were anxious for the race to start. So soon after his concert ended we headed up to our seats.

A view of the mob getting a close look at Juniors car. They were just starting to uncover the cars.

This photo is one of the saddest moments of the entire trip.

Denny right after bonehead Tony wrecked him. Lap 14 and I wanted to cry! Then to see Junior get caught up in that made the blow even worse.

After seeing the crew trucks rolling down the highway- heading the same direction we were... I had my eyes peeled!

I got upset when I took this picture.... the one rest area we didn't stop at and it had 3 haulers. This picture..hard to tell is Kasey Kahne. Reed Sorenson(Target) and Jeff Green (Best Buy). Everyone is headed for Chicagoland Speedway, just 45 miles east of our town. Right down I-80 waiting for the phone to ring, my brother always calls at the last minute with extra tickets. Not sure if I'm up to it this year! After my feet I might just sit on the couch and put them up and watch both races.

These are only a few of the many photos we took on our trip. I'm going to have to put my needles down and get a scrapbook finished to document our trip. We had to wait almost 3 years but our honeymoon was worth the wait!

Only 2 more days!!

SO hard to believe that in 2 day swe will be on the road. Please bear with me.. I haven't had a "real" vacation in 4 years. Weekends don't count. Slowly getting things packed. DH thinks I'm nuts packing already.... He can pack in like 15 mins. But I don't like to forget things. Yes the sunscreen is already packed in the "bathroom" bag.
The weekend started out with lil dude going to mom's. Then the other son was invited to go camping for the weekend with his g/f family. We said seeya!! So NO KIDS for the weekend! Friday night we relaxed had a couple drinks and listened to music but by friday we are both so tired we ended up in bed early. Yesterday I had a hair appointment so I had to be up and in the hairdresser chair by 9. Karla redid my highlightes which were way overdue. We are slowly getting my natural hair grown out, with highlights to "cover the grey". She did another great job. Put a bit of red in this time....which looks good. :)

DH and I had a nice lunch and went shopping after I got home. We later rented a couple of movies which we laid around and watched after watching the DVR taping of the Cubs game and the Busch race. Getting tired of the Cup drivers dominating the Busch race. We had a nice night again no kids :) Unfortunately DH ended up with a terrible stomach ache. Toady we have some errands to run and then we will get home in time for the race. Then every for DH birthday party with my family. Lil dude has to have a party for daddy before we go.

I did finish a sqaure for Camp Square Crew and a Preemie hat. I posted the pics on Flickr. When I can get one of my boys attention for a bit.. I will have them tell me how to add that to this....lol I do so many technical things at work but this is beyond me....lol Showing my age I guess. Altho I see blogs from people that blow my mind. Where they find stuff and how they figure out how to get it on there makes me jealous.

Time to go .... stuff to do.

We are on the countdown!

I can't wait!! 12 more days til we head south. Just the thought of no kids or work for a whole week is exciting. We had to wait but I tell you I'm glad we did. We will enjoy this trip much more than if we went right after the wedding. Things in our life were very crazy back then. Not that now is much better but it just seems calmer. It has been 15+ years since I've been down there. I'm sure lots of things have changed. Just from what I've seen while researching for hotels..St. Augustine has grown! One thing I'm not thrilled about is that you can no longer drive on my favorite beach :( Oh well no kids in tow so no toys to drag out to the beach!.. I think we can handle carrying our stuff. I have to make a list of things to get before we go.. sunscreen is on the top of said list!! I already have the beach bag done and ready to go.. didn't turn out as well as I hoped but I'm going to give a different pattern a try.

What a week!!

Busy week! DH landed one of his largest accounts to date. This is for a larger company in the area, cleaning m-f. He held interviews yesterday and hired a couple of different people to help him. He hired 3 women, this way if one quits he has backup. We need someone to cover his accounts while we are on vacation.

I also joined Camp Square Crew Yahoo Group. This group is a knitting group that makes squares & rectangles in bright colors to be sent one or two other memebers to be joined together to make afghans for the Victory Junction Gang. This is a Camp for Special needs children, opened by the Petty Family. They aim to send every child home with a blanket/afghan as a souvenir of there time at camp. Most of this group is made up of the Nascar Knitters but that is great. Dana has been great to work with and her patterns are really fun to knit. Having worked with special needs children, having an autistic stepson and an Aunt with Downs I felt the need to put my talents to good use. I still knit for the preemies also.

DH went to one of his favorite clients the other day- he is trying to get out of residential cleaning as it is a challenge, but this couple he really enjoys. They sent him home with stuff.... thank goodness for the van. They sent him home with a dvd/vcr combo player for Michael... lost the remote so they didn't want it anymore. Gave DH a Yamaha acoustic guitar, a plastic 3 drawer dresser ( fit most of my stash very well) and a few other smaller items. He was thrilled with the guitar. He has wanted to take lessons and play songs for me. He is a fabulous poet so who knows....someday he may play me my own song.

Then last night I was relaxing, knitting on the couch while Mikey played outside and I got a call from a friend of my SIL she wants me to make knit bags - she has a few friends in her piliates class that keep asking her about her bag. Hers was a gift from a friend in CA but she saw me working on my beach bag and thought maybe I could knit some up and sell them. I said sure come on over and this way I can take a look at her bag to get an idea of what they are looking for. I hope I can come up with something they will like or that is close.

OH I also have this link for anyone who thinks I knit too much. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=460754&in_page_id=1770

I think it is a cool idea and I hope they raise the money they hope to!

Knit in Public Day!!

Today is knit in public day. The only "local"events for this day is in Millienium Park in Chicago. Of course (my luck) I'm a week late. We were up there last weekend showing Uli around Chicago. No events in the immediate area so I guess I will just go sit outside on this glorious day and knit. I need to work on getting some sun. Don't want to fry when I go to Florida in a few weeks. Currently have a few different projects on the needles. I have my bag for FL need to finish the strap. I have a Earnhardt dishcloth, my socks, and a preemie hat. I think that is all lol.

I'm going to vote for Denny this week to win the race. He is starting second and dominated these races last year. I'm hoping for a repeat performance.

Gotta go finish my "inside work" so I can go and enjoy the sunshine and perfect temperature outside.

Almost the weekend.

My DH is a cleaning maniac. He is running around cleaning and straightening and just in general getting the house ready for our friend Uli who is coming in from Germany on Monday. If you didn't know better you would think she was royalty. :) He is just very excited that she has decided to come and spend her "holiday" with us. He has known her from chatting online for about 5 years. We've talked on the phone and she sounds wonderful. I can't wait to meet her. What I thought was funny is she was hoping I wouldn't mind her drinking beer. I told DH I don't care she's on vacation! She can do what she wants.. the other thing I can't wait to do is take her swimming at my sister's house. DH told her to bring a swimming suit. She asked him if we would swim in the creek?? He said no swimming pool. Her English is a bit broken but I have no problem figuring out what she is trying to say. Maybe it's from years of trying to figure out what my Grandmother was saying. She had a heavy Scottish accent. Some of her words had different meaning than what we were taught. Like a biscuit. To most american's that is a roll or a biscuit like biscuits & gravy type. Nope to Nana those were cookies. We figured that one out quick. Imagine her first time at the bakery after moving to Chicago. She told me she had "a hell of a time telling them" I guess she finally just pointed to what she wanted and they all figured it out. I think it will be good for the boys to learn about someone from another country. I had my grandmother so it was normal for me. My boys knew her breifly. My younger neices and nephews got to know grandpa.... but he didn't talk funny like grandma did.

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend and remember those who fought for our freedom. Also anyone who has passed before us who shaped us into the people we are today.

I can't fall over.....

My beloved sister in law is coming over today and spending the night. I guess we are the only ones who can drive to and from Dwight in one day and not need to spend the night. We are talking about 43 miles here people... not like we live 4 states away. I shouldn't complain she hasn't been to our house since the Daytona 500 in Feb. 2006. She swears she was here this last feb for that same race, but she wasn't.. Justin's wonderful girlfriend came over and proceeded to piss of my father in law who left with half the race to go.
I'm hoping tonight will be like old times.. sitting at the patio table, sharing some good drinks and conversation and listening to music... maybe a fire to go along with it. This time it's at our house tho.. not hers. We used to hang out in her backyard when Mike and I first met. I'm also glad she is spending the night.. because I know from first hand experience.. it sucks to drive home late at night after having a couple drinks. Not to mention dangerous. I'm going to fix the other breakfast braid so we have food in the morning with out alot of fuss. As Mike and I have to go clean and meet with our insurance agent, and Jen to get her back in the swing of work for the summer. :) All in all it will be a good day despite what the wonderful teenager living in my basement tries to do to mess it up.





I hope to get close to finishing my bag. It's getting there.

My DH said is still looks like a boat not a bag.. but it takes time for knit items to "evolve" sometimes. I think he is just happy I'm finally making something for myself. I was looking through Knitty.com and found this wonderful bag it is called Kitchensink by Faye Whyte. I fell in love with it while searching for the perfect beach bag pattern. I hope to get the smaller bag done in time for our trip to Florida. I was recently bummed to find out you can no longer drive on my favorite beach.... so now we have to drag our crap to the beach.. hence the need for a big beach bag! We are going to spend a good portion of a day at Anastasia State Park , beach in St. Augustine. less than two months! I can't wait! If you would like the pattern you can find it here .

Thank you.

Anyone who knows me knows my weekends are at the mercy of the Nascar race for that weekend. My life is pretty much planned around the races. I do have to say that it is better than it used to be but we always watch the race. My good friend found out how devoted a fan my DH was when we came down to visit. He sat patiently for about 2 1/2 hours before the Saturday night race was cancelled until Sunday due to rain. We still had a great visit.

My point of all of this is the Yahoo group, Nascar Knitters accepted me into the group. My DH is saying you need another group ..lol But hey he has turned me into a Nascar fan (Go Denny!!) and I love to knit (especially during the races) so what better group for me to join?!? I'm still a bit confused on how they earn points in this group but I'm sure I will figure it out soon. Looks like fun. Can't wait to get to know everyone.

I'm also going to have to figure out how I can put my name in for a winner of the Pepsi 400. I won't have access to a computer because I will be at the races that entire weekend. ( Help on htat one would be great??) We are finally taking our honeymoon.. almost 3 years later.. but hey better late than not at all!! I will be attending my first Nextel Cup race (I've been told Busch races don't count) and it will be DH first time at Daytona. Yippee..... somewhere he hasn't been before.. that wasn't easy.

I have a bag for that trip currently on the needles. I've taken a break from my preemie knitting to finish up some projects I've wanted to make for me. This bag and some socks. I will post pics asap.

It's a Girl!!!!

My sisters best friend Jennifer just had baby #4, another shocker. She is very irregular so when she gets pregnant she doesn't know right away.... it takes a few months. Anyway she had her 1st girl. After Cody, Travis and Jaren they had Madison early this morning 2:43am. Miss Madison Janelle weighed in at 7 pounds even and is a petite 19inches long. Much smaller than her brothers, so mom is amazed on both counts. Little, girl. I'm told she resembles the youngest of her brothers who has told the family that if the baby wasn't a girl the doctor would have to take it back. Jaren didn't want anymore brothers :) I have no pictures yet but hope to this weekend. She will hopefully make her family debute at mom's birthday party. Yes they are also related. Jennifer's hubby and my sister's hubby are cousins. Congrats Jen & Shane!!!

Cardigan in memory of Julie is finished.

I have finished the cardigan that was a knit along in memory of the knitting groups I belong to - the moderator's daughter. I enjoyed making this. Not the reason it came to be. Losing someone is always a difficult thing to go thru but children are not supposed to go before there parents. I made this for my mom for her birthday to hopefullly keep her warm and looking good on her trip to the southwest. They leave the day after her birthday.

Back to working on my hats for Preemie Project. I got a fleece remnant and cut it in half. Got the small hole punch - punched all the way around in order to crochet an edge and it started to unravel once I started to put the edge on. Talk about frustrating! So I basically thought screw it, I will go back to knitting it's easier... less to worry about. Knitting I can almost do without looking.

Found out yesterday that Mike and I will be able to get away the first weekend in May. We are going to go and visit my dear friend Kathy and her hubby. They just bought a home in KY and we are heading down. They have never met Mike so this will be fun. It's been 4 almost 5 years since I saw them. They were in Virginia Beach back then. Jeff is from KY so they moved home. His home. She has had a hard time getting used to rural life. She was thrilled to hear we are coming down. We need the time away!!

New Socks!

This is my other project on needles. My Mock Cable socks. I got the pattern from Scarlett Knits . I found her pattern while searching for a pattern that used the sock yarn (Plymouth Yarns - Socketta. Thank goodness this is easy to tote!

I can screw up just about anything..

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Here is what I've been up to.

These are the hats I sent for the March donation to The Preemie Project Michigan. I was working on the items below when I had to send the others in. So I guess I have a head start on the next donation deadline. :)

I've also been working on a knitalong for my other knitting group KnittingMadeEasy4U. We are honoring our moderator by making this sweater in memory of her daughter Julie Bird Manson. I'm making this one for my mothers birthday. I hope she likes it. I thought the color would look great on her for summer.

Still have a way to go on it. But it is nice and easy all garter stich. I found out after this was well under way that a few of the ladies in the group are knitting this in seed stich. That would make a great pattern. Maybe I will make the next one in that. I'm hoping to make myself one next.

Pennie and I went out yarn shopping last weekend. I got some nice yarn. I got myself yarn! I bought the yarn pictured below. It was my first trip to real yarn shops, Pennie got a kick out of being with me for my "first time".

Well gotta get off here.. storms a comin.

Finally!!

The plans are set, the tickets purchased and hotel reservations made! We are going to Daytona!! We are finally taking our honeymoon. We wanted to go to Daytona 500 after the wedding but it got delayed. So we have it all set to go to the Pepsi 400 and celebrate Mike's birthday in FL. I can't wait. Sand and surf in St. Auggies again. My fav beach and city to stroll around in. I hope the weather is good not too hot. A new track to visit been by many times wanting to go in. Now I will get the opportunity to walk thru the gates instead of going thru the doors of the mall across the street! DMIL is coming to watch the kids. This is our first real vacation ever. We have taken a weekend here and there but nothing like this. :)

It's a sad day in Bears country.

The game started off fantastic. Our favorite rookie Devin Hester ran a kickoff return for 92 yards for a superbowl first - touchdown. We held on to the lead for most of the first half. Then the colts just showed the Bears that a Quarterback with 9 years of experience pays off. Oh well, I think the Bears did a great job this year! Just getting to the Superbowl is a major accomplishment and they should be very proud. Now we just need them to bring some of the Florida warmth back home with them. This 0 stuff is getting old..daytime highs of 3...brrr!! Too cold for me. But we all will be complaining in a few months that it is too hot. I guess we are never happy. Until I can afford to move somewhere that is warm year round....like San Diego I guess I will just have to continue bundling up!

Superbowl Fever has hit!

Yes the city of Chicago has gone Bear crazy! Everything is blue and orange. Even Sue the dinosaur at the Field Museum, she has a Urlacher jersey on! This is the best picture I got on my travels to pick up Kyle in the big city. He needed a ride to bring "stuff" home to mom's. He will be moving soon to Milwaukee. I got an email that his brother is coming home today. It is rare I get to see both my boys at the same time and it not be a holiday. I guess the Bears being in the Superbowl can be considered a holiday in Chicago!