Great Weekend.

First off, I was asked to write up something about myself to be a Michigan Chapter Preemie Project Volunteer Spotlight for the upcoming newsletter. So when Mike and I went to my Winter Party (dinner) for work I asked him to take a couple pictures of me when we got home. I chose the one on here. I hate having my picture taken but for this I will do it. I enjoy putting a face with the names of people who you converse with by email and blogs. The hard part is going to be writing about me. I have a hard time just blogging.

Yesterday I was cleaning up the desk which has a new home in a different part of the living room. (My idea to better bunny proof the living room, so Foo Fo can get "out" more often.) I was in the kitchen and the phone rang, I don't worry about the phone as it is 98% of the time not for me! Mike looked at the caller id on the tv and said the name, then asked if I heard of that name I shouted yes that is Sharon! It was a old friend from High School. We were practically attached together most of junior and senior year. We went thru beauty school together. After graduation we got busy with families and occassionally talked. It has been 13 years since we spoke last and had fun "catching up". With all that has gone on the past 2 months I totally forgot I sent her my phone numbers and email. She chose to call, I'm so glad she did. I hated to have to hang up with her but we had to leave to get lil dude.

OTN I have been busy trying to my first "lapghan" finished. I will post a picture on the project blog. I still have a hat to finish up for my brother and some preemie hats to make but now the main focus is getting Sara Smiles Project going.

YEA Me!!

I've been such an airhead lately. DH is hoping my brain comes back soon. Can't blame it on the hair anymore. :) Anyway, I just realized I have been a NON smoker for a year now!! I quit a year ago on the 26th! I had a half a pack on Christmas 2006 so I actually quit as of the 26th. Woo hoo! I'm sad to say some of my old weight found me.. but that is the 2008 project. Changed my hair back to dark and told the family on Christmas I started the change at the top and I'm working my way down. :) Wish me luck!

Friday at last!

I'm so happy it's friday. I don't even want to be at work anymore and I have just over 2 hours to go. I have lots of gifts to finish knitting & crocheting. . We are going shopping this weekend finally to get that all going. I love having lil dude around but out "weekends off" are so nice and like all weekends go by way to fast.

Life is slowly getting back to normal, altho normal isn't a good word. We are all starting to move forward is probably better. I think I will be happy to just survive the holidays. Normal drama in my house. Mike, Craig and I had a big blow up - figures right after I decide for the first time to send a family picture for our Christmas card. Never fails. Feelings about things get blown out of whack and I know in the end all will work out. I hope anyway. Misunderstanding on all our parts.. generation difference in the way we look at things in life is most of the battle... to put it in a nutshell. Not getting into it on here. Unlike my son he had to post his feeling for the world to read.

My sister is doing as good as anyone can expect. The one and only present she had purchased for Sara is a game that was basically to be shared by the 4 of them so now it will be given to her son and the 3 of them can play together. Sara would be happy about that. She is also thrilled about the Project and I think will be a big help in coordinating the efforts.

My apologies if my recent postings are kinda scatterbrained.. that is how I've been for the last 3 weeks. I'm hoping it will pass soon. Maybe when the holidays are past and things calm down a bit.

Some days are harder than others.

Ever since the accident my mind isn't able to concentrate at work. I just don't want to be here.
Shocking things make you want to stay closer to your loved ones. I remember 9/11 I hated to send the boys to school and didn't want to leave the tv in fear something else would "hit" close to home. Even tho I have a "new"family I still have that feeling. I'm happiest at home.

Trying to finish Christmas projects and get into the holiday spirit. Mom is trying to do the same by having the younger grandkids over to bake and decorate cookies. This should be fun. I will bring the camera and share the fun. Even my sister is coming to help. She needs to get out of the house.

Our Sweet Sara has gone to heaven.

We had a horrible tradegy strike our family this weekend. Our dear sweet Sara was taken from us after a terrible accident. She touched the hearts of many people and everyone she touched was changed by her sweetness. She will be missed desperately. The photo above was taken by my son Michael. He is 7 years old and has yet to fully understand all that is happening. He will have this photo in his room tonight for him to have "his Sara" with him.

My oldest son Craig took this picture of Sara having fun after Thanksgiving dinner. She was always the light in the room. New braces on her teeth and all. She was so looking forward to Christmas her braces were green and red. After this picture was taken she and Michael helped her mom put up Grandma's Christmas tree. The holidays will not be the same with out her smile to light up the room.

Some none knitting news.

DH and I raced up to Rosemont to the Allstate arena to see Keith Urban friday night. On the way up we heard who was playing before Keith ... it was Gary Allan. We were excited as we both like his music also.

The concert was AWESOME! It has been over 20 years since I had been to a concert at "Rosemont". I show my age when I call it the Horizon. That was the name back in the day, when I saw bands like the Stones, Bowie and Queen there.

This photo is not from the concert as I didn't know I would've been allowed to take photos! Cameras were everywhere. DH was upset at that sight, as we bought an awesome camera for our Daytona trip. We found out later that a dvd was being filmed. Fingers crossed that it's true.

We also heard Nicole (Kidman, his wife) was backstage so that explained why when we left we hit an area that had heavy security. Frustrating when we had to walk all the way around the place to get to our entrance. Oh well we were inside and it was a fantastic evening. I plan to go again next time he is in the area!

On a knitting note. I finished my rib scarf this weekend. I started a couple of Christmas gifts. Also tonight is my very first knitting class!!! I've never taken a class before so when Pennie called to see if I would like to join her in taking this class I said sure. We are trecking up to Geneva to Wool & Company to take the Felted Clog class. I will tell you tomorrow how it went. I'm excited and can't wait to leave. Gotta finish up some work here then off we go..... :)

Yea me....lol

I had a great birthday. My DH gave me great gifts. My DS2 gave me his nano - ipod with the understanding I had to use it to workout. I had no headphones or anything for said workout. DH got me an armband to hold ipod and earbuds (pink of course) so I can start working out. Oh I also got a bottle of my favorite cologne and tickets to see KEITH URBAN next weekend. Very excited about that :D

Now we need to rearrange the basement so we can both work out downstairs.. yea....:D

Happy Birthday to me!!

I'm hoping to really enjoy my day today. It is a beautiful day outside today. Mid 50's and sunny. So far my DH and lil dude woke me up saying Happy Birthday, my sister and neice called me at work to do the same. I've also already received an e-card from DS1. Dad called to invite me to lunch today, kinda messed up DH plans for lunch but like he said he can take me to lunch anytime. He is a good sport about "sharing" me with family. I know he has "plans" as he has been bringing up my birthday to everyone. He also knows the ex didn't usually do much. I'm enjoying the attention.

On the knitting note:























Making this scarf for me! My birthday present to myself. The yarn I received from the Nascar swap and it is sooo soft I knew I had to make a scarf out of it. It is pink Crystal Palace Cotten Chenille. I'm doing a 2x2 rib pattern until I run out of yarn then it will be done.



I've also finished :
















Lil Dude's mittens are finished. I have no picture of the finished product and as of yesterday they were lost already. He was afraid to tell me he left them at school - hopefully they are in the lost and found. We will know later today.

End of October already!

Wow hard to believe - on a couple levels. My DSS has lived to see his 17th birthday for one. He has given us lots of heartache and disappointment in the past year. Hoping someday soon everything will "click" and he will wake up to be the great kid we know he can be. DH says he is too much like his mother..lol. I believe that but DH had his rebellious days from what I hear. :)

Tomorrow is one of the most fun days to have a 7 year old in the house. He can't wait to be Spiderman. Tonight is pumpkin carving and cupcake baking for tomorrow's class party. The pumpkin carving is being left to me so it will be a very simple design. Was hoping to carve them over the weekend while DS #1 was home but that like all weekends lately, we ran out of time.

I did accomplish getting two Santa hats done for The Preemie Project. I used Tracy's Christmas hat design. Thank you Tracy. Much faster hat design than the others. I feel it is a better size for the Preemie's also. More on those with pictures later. I also had a Bead Retreat. I held it at my office (big conference room table) which worked much better than my little kitchen table would've also we didn't interrupt the game & race. I think I've found a new hobby. Beading. I love jewelry but hate paying the big prices. Now I can design my own stuff. It is also much faster than knitting. I'm thinking quicker gifts! DH better watch out at the craft stores now..lol

Better get back to my paying job and I will have pictures after tomorrow!

Hike at Starved Rock

This is the time of year I love my drive to work.
I drive this road to and from work and get to enjoy the scenery that people drive for days to see. (They call me for information that is how I know :) )

This is a special trip tho.. DH is with me and we are about to go hiking in St. Louis Canyon. We are entering Starved Rock State Park.

This is the path we hiked. I don't remember that tree that fell across the path. Luckily it is high enough most adults can walk under it with out ducking.

This is the South Canyon wall. The big rocks are part of the wall that has fallen.











Me resting on a rock. This hike woke me up to just how out of shape I really am. Think I better start working out on the treadmill before I hit the couch to knit :)

This is one of the better pictures of the waterfall. It was so dark it was hard to get a good picture. Told DH we have to come back in the winter when the waterfall is all ice. I enjoy the canyon hike in the winter. You can see so much more of the canyon when the leaves are gone and you can see the animal tracks in the snow.

DH enjoyed our hike and time alone together. Being the parents to 5 boys that kind of time is hard to come by. Next time maybe we will even include the boys.

So So Busy!

I've been so busy I haven't had a minute to get on here. Last week was the auction. ANyone hwo knows me knows that part of August all of September and most of October are consumed by "The Auction". For those who don't know.. this is the main fundraiser of the year for my office. I work for a not for profit Economic Development organization - also the Chamber of Commerce for the Illinois Valley Area. This helps pay my salary so I have to be all consumed with it. We had a recordbreaking year this year! We hoped to surpass our $30,000 goal and we did we are $30 and change short of $35K. Which is an all time high! This was our silver anniversary (25th). We celebrated with Sparkling Grape Juice and donuts at yesterday morning's Executive Committee meeting. Champagne would've been nice.. but not at 8:30 on a tuesday morning.... when you have to work the rest of the day.

IN other news....... on Thursday (auction day) my brother who had had nerve damage in his back, went to "the spine specialist" @ Northwestern Memorial in Chicago. He was admitted imeddiately and told he needed surgery as soon as they could get him in. He was shocked and a bit freaked out.. but he knew this is the answer to what is needed to correct the problem. He had another MRI and waited.. he had his surgery yesterday and is doing great. I tried to call him earlier and he wasn't in his room so mom and I assume he was in therapy. His thigh muscles were so bad he could hardly walk. He had been sent home from work about a month ago and had been walking with a cane.. he will be 42 on Nov. 1st. Way too young to have a cane. He ended up having a ruptured disk in his neck. So that was all fixed and he is on the road to recovery.. it may be a long one but we all have our fingers crossed that this is the answer to the many prayers.

I also have been getting things ready for the "Fall Festival" friday night at little guys school. I have to man a booth for a half hour.. my neice is going to take him around while I'm stuck in the booth. I also am making cakes for the cake walk and getting things ready for the class party on Halloween. DH will be taking the treats in for that. I have been crocheting an afghan for my DS and working on a pair of socks. Need to regraft the toe on the finished sock as it looks funny. I keep the sock project in the car for lunch time knitting and the afghan at home as it is finally getting "there" so it is larger by the day. I'm hoping to finish it by Christmas but I'm not sure..... not many homemade gifts this year. I've been doing more things for Charity. I feel horrible because I haven't done anything for Camp Square Crew in awhile and do some for Preemie Project Michigan as I blogged earlier.

Photos from hiking trip soon!

Fall is here... altho you can't tell by the weather.

These are the hats I've made for the fall donation for Preemie Project in Michigan.
I was hoping to get more finished but as you can see in the next picture, I've been busy with another project.

This is the baby blanket and lace beanie hat I made for DH step daughter. This is a daughter that came along with his first wife. She had a baby girl today. Mom & baby are doing well, Daisha (sounds like day-sha, also not sure on exact spelling) arrived a couple weeks early and weighed in at 6 pounds 6 oz and 19 inches. I'm sure pictures will follow as soon - altho DH upset the ex by saying he wasn't technically a Grandpa. We havent' seen mom in almost 4 years to explain my DH attitude toward the whole thing. Babies are always a blessing no matter the circumstances. I just hope they like what I'm sending.

Tonight was open house at school for lil dude. We had fun. He enjoyed showing me his work and all of his papers around the classroom. He was also thrilled when he got the book he wanted from the book fair! He is disappointed about not being able to watch the Cubs playoff game as it starts after his bedtime. Thank god for DVR's. :) I told him I don't think daddy will make it to the end either. Go CUBS!!

What a Fabulous weekend.

Mike and I had a great weekend. The weather was fab and we had a lot of time with just us. We don't get that very often. Yes, lil dude goes to his moms every other weekend...but we always have so much going on that we don't take time to breathe and concentrate on us. Satuday morning we got up, met my parents for breakfast then headed up to Plano to go to the Plano Molding Outlet store. We found some great deals on things we needed. I was especially happy about the tool rack for big tools. This would normally go in your garage.. to keep shovels and brooms in order.. instead it will be in our basement to hold many brooms and mops of DH. Owning a cleaning company those things seem to multiply when you aren't looking. After bargain hunting we headed to DH old hometown to go to Harvest Days. We had a blast walking around the craft show and flea market. DH got a new Cubs shirt and I got some Halloween decor for the door and outside. :) We headed home and cooked brats for dinner on the grill. We had planned to sit outside but the bugs were bad so we stayed in and vegged out on the couch. I finished a candy corn preemie hat and started a pumpkin hat. They are so cute. I feel bad that I haven't done more of my charity knitting recently but as I usually do this time of year the carpal tunnel is aggravated by all the typing needed for the auction at work. I was happy to finish the 2 hats I got done this weekend. I still have a ton of knitting to do before christmas. I just do what I can as I can and hope it's enough. I will make up for it after the holidays like I usually do. :)

It's been 3 years already!

Hard to believe 3 years ago I had just gotten married to my soulmate and best friend. DH sent me these beautiful flowers to brighten my day for our anniversary today. We decided to not buy each other anything and get something we both want so the flowers came as a complete surprise! I thought we would just exchange cards tonight after he got home from work, but he as he always does knows how to make me smile and put me in a better mood. He is the champ at that! One of the many reasons why I married him. :) I know we will be together until the end.

Glad last week is over!

I will start out with what I purchased at Stitches. Yes I know it was a couple of weeks ago. But things in my life have been crazy. So here goes - I got to meet a lady in one of my Yahoo groups. She is just as sweet in person as she is online. She is basically a neighbor living about a hour west of me. Near where my maternal grandparents are buried. I bought some Noro Kureyon in a fabulous varigated color. #214 for the Noro fans out there. I'm just finishing the bag I decided to make with it. I also bought some sock yarn. Regia I don't have what kind right in front of me as I'm at work. I love the color and can't wait to get "going" on those. I also bought some Cascade 220 in Orange and a funky fall tweed color. I want to make some felted pumpkins and I didn't want to buy green and brown so I got this lovely color that is a mix. Got home to find it is exactly the color called for in the pattern I have. :) Pennie and I had a blast she took a class and it filled up before I could get signed up so I sat and knit at Project Linus and waited for her. Met some lovely ladies from Ohio and Virginia. All I can say is either bring lots of cash or prepare to have your credit cards smoke because the I've never seen more yarn in one place in my life! It was like a mall of yarn stores. All the online stores I've ever heard of and more in one place. That is the best way to describe it for anyone who has never gone. Every kind of yarn imaginable. Demonstrations on many different things. I dyed my own yarn - that is the strand kinda draped over every thing in the photo. Beads are big also. Adding beads to your knitting. Pennie is a Bead Instructor so she was really interested in that. I did what I set out to do tho. Purchase yarn I can't find at home. I can't wait for next year!! Starting to save for more yarn. Working on using up the stuff I bought too.

The boys have started school. Lil dude survived his 7th b-day and is anxiously awaiting going to the Peoria Chiefs baseball game next weekend. We tried last weekend (a week ago) but the rain kept us away. Little did we know it wasn't raining down there and we would've been fine. Oh well gives Hubby a chance to go buy a new cubs hat so he can get Ryan Sandbergs autograph. More on that later. He is enjoying the first grade and is proud to be the only one he knows with the Chicago Cubs backpack!

We had more rain then I can ever remember in this last week. My basement lost it's carpeting but that is the worst that happened to us. Thank goodness. My parents were in MN and came home to a glowing thermostat. The HVAC guy that came and replaced it at 11pm saturday night said he had never seen that before. Mom says the dvd doesn't work either so we are thinking that is from one of the many storms that came roaring thru. Glad nothing else was wrong. Easy to replace items. With their move a couple weeks away they really didn't want to have to replace anything major. My brother got 8 inches of water in his basement and he has his house up for sale. They had luckily moved everything out of the basement about a month ago so they are just cleaning up the mess.

Saturday night that same brother and I headed North to WI to Alpine Valley to see The Dave Matthews Band! Once we got there it was great! With all the rain that had gone thru everything was mud. The parking lot, the "lawn" you name it - covered in mud. We left home at 2 pm arrived in Lake Geneva at 4:15 had a great dinner at a little place right on the lake. Great view, excellent food. We left and was on the road again by 5:20 started heading north on this back road DB said he likes to take o.k. Well I guess everyone found his "backway" because we sat in traffic for over 3 1/2 hours. We finally got into the concert about 9:00 we found out we missed only 4 DMB songs and the opening band. I didn't care at that point we got there and we had fun. We had pavillion seats (thank god) and right before the encore I asked DB is up the hill (over the so called lawn) the only way out of here?? He said yes. I said you are going to have to help me up the hill. As I thought it was solid mud so it was a joke trying to get up it. Lost my sandel at one point which he hurried and grabbed. Thank go dhe wasn't afraid to hold his big sisters hand! After that I went shoeless until we arrived at the parking lot (part gravel) Got in the car to sit and wait again. We finally made it home just before 4 am. DH knew I would be late just not THAT late. But he didn't worry cuz I was with my bro. I felt bad for my DB as he had tickets for last night so he had to do it all over again. Better seats (11th row) made him make the trek again. His wife went with him to that concert and he planned on leaving at noon! I haven't talked to him to see how it went. I definately will think more than twice about seeing a show there again. It was still great to spend time with my DB I think it was the first time we had ever spent that much time alone together. Many wonderful and funny memories from it too!

Bunny Foo Foo and more!

This is Bunny Foo Foo - we adopted him from our neighbors who called him Thumper, many buns are called Thumper and he just looks like a Foo Foo to me so he is called that. We have had Foo since right before Christmas but he is shy when it comes to getting his picture taken.

DS2 has a love of animals bigger than mine - he needed to get in his bunny loving time while he was home. He got Foo to go into a trance with no problem!

They stayed like that for a long while. I just had to share these pictures. Now if I can only figure out why Foo is recently pouncing when we feed him. I think he is either saying hey this is my house get out or he is trying to play.. not sure. Anyne with bunny knowledge on that kind of behavior please comment!!

In other news I got my invite to Ravelry late yesterday. I considered myself warned by others who say it is addictive.. that is the understatement of the year. I now realize I need to take better photos of my work! Also, once better photos are taken get them uploaded to Flickr!!

Stitches Midwest tomorrow!!!! I can't wait. Will share the trip when I get back.

Why do weekends go by so fast?

Justin(SS1), Craig(DS1), me, DH, Lil guy(SS2) & Kyle(DS2)

At the end of a wonderful weekend with my boys, we all posed for a family photo. This is something Mike and I had wanted since we were married. We are missing Zach but it is a very rare occassion to have Zach, Justin, Craig & Kyle all at home at the same time. Our place just isn't big enough. Maybe when we get our house we can have everyone at home at the same time. This is my crew. This will also be the Christmas card photo.

Monday it was up to Wisconsin to take Kyle home. This was the first time I have been to his new apartment since he moved from Chicago.

This is his new home. The trees in the far end of the photo are at Lake Michigan. Big cliff down to the waters edge.

It has a fabulous view. This is to the south along the lake.

With all the heat and rain we have had I can say I had very safe travels. DS1 drove with me. He went home last night. He lives the other direction in Central IL. My brother drove with me. Lil guy doesn't like long car rides so he stayed home with DH. My brother and I had a ride home we won't soon forget. The lightening was unbelievable all the way home. Thankfully the rain waited for us to arrive home before it made it's presence be known. We received 3 inches of rain overnight.

Back to normal life in my house again. School starts in another week. The holidays will be here before we know it. That is when we will all be together again. Not soon enough for me but such is life.

I got my Swap box.

Cathy Davies was my swap partner. I wanted to get this picture posted so everyone can see what she sent. Thank you for all the cool stuff!

I have to run and get to the bank this morning. I can't wait to get home and "play" with my new "toys".

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.