You know you need to post to your blog when.....

You have to keep signing in for every comment you try to leave! LOL Sorry I've been so quiet lately, with summer coming things just seem to be busy. Not sure why though b/c we're doing the same things we do all the time it's just warmer/hot out. Just in time for summer over at Pinks and Blues blog there is a contest for a new bag/purse!I'm so wanting to win the contest! it's beautiful! go and see.
As everyone else is doing the same, we've been preparing for school to be out. Last weekend was the bub's School festival. It was super fun, they had a car show, a flea market, kids corner, an auction and vendors. In the kids section they had a cotton candy machine for 2 tickets. the Destroyer used some of her tickets for cotton candy. LOL it was all over her face by the end! They had these jumping things that the bub didn't want to get off of. Though the wind was bad, and at one time the tent's covering the kids section blew up and almost took out a few people. PTL that no one was hurt. shortly after that they shut down the bouncy things b/c they were blowing up too. They need to put them on the grass and attach them to the ground next year instead of having it in the parking log. I'm thinking about next year already and planning on making somethings to sell there as a vendor. I'm thinking probably some aprons, bags/purses, and maybe some amigurumi. But I'm not really sure how well the amigurumi will go over. I've just got to finish the projects I'm working on and then work on things here and there to work through my stash.
Speaking of amigurumi I'm making one for my WWJD moms yahoo group to be a traveling mascot of sorts. it's supposed to be an elephant.. I'm still working on it so it's in pieces. And i wanted to tease my friends over at wwjd moms a bit with a progress pix.. LOL
evil I know!
Last night we went to the drive in to see Pirates 3. it was great! i enjoyed it. It carried on the story from the 1st and 2nd one and left it open to if they're going to make a 4th. I enjoyed the first 2. well at first I so didn't like the 2nd one. but that one we also saw at the drive in but then we bought it at our local video store previously viewed and I watched it again (and again and again) and completely saw things I hadn't caught at the drive in.. so it made sense and I figured out that it's really good. which I must say is rare b/c most sequels aren't that great. Look at the matrix, or spiderman, and even kill bill, now vol 2 was good but not as good at the vol 1.. in my personal opinion. Ok enough of that.
Today is Memorial day and i want to say Happy Memorial day to everyone!
Here in j-town there is a veteran's memorial that they built back in 2005 and engraved on the stones they have everyone who ever served in the military. my husband's name is on it and so is his grandfathers. We went to see it on Sunday and I'm so smart I forgot the camera. it's a great memorial!
anyways Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Do You Know the Muffin Man?

Thursday, I baked some bread. The recipe my sister gave me. I tried the whole wheat recipe.
I had to cut down the recipe into 4ths so that it would work at home. still I came out with about the equivalent of 4 loaves. One i actually put in a loaf pan, then the other I rolled into balls and put into muffin pans so that i could make the pull-apart bread Jessica showed on her blog not to long ago. then I took what was left and formed a "fat football" type of loaf. it tripled in size so I think that next time I make this (and I will) I'll divide that one up also.
The bread came out wonderful and is super moist and wonderful flavor. The pull apart bread came out wonderfully!
Note to Self: When baking bread please make sure you're not also watching the season finale of Smallville...
As you can tell the other two loaves of bread are a little dark, but actually it really pulled a little more flavor out. Even my DH ate some. and if you know him he doesn't like whole wheat anything. I also haven't really told him about the bread being whole wheat..LOL
So this recipe was great and I can't wait to try the other recipes she sent me.

A couple of days ago I was tagged by Amy Lu for the 7 random things meme. now normally I don't do meme's but I enjoyed reading everyone else's sooo... here ya go....
Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write their own blog with their 7 things as well as these rules. You need to tag 7 others and list their names on your blog. Remember to leave a comment for them letting them know they have been tagged and to read your blog.
so here we go...
these are in random order too..

1. I love to watch the sci fi channel for the movies they showcase.. or even just show. the lower the budget the better, they crack me UP! some of them are good and scare the crap outta me and I don't want to turn the lights off and go to bed, but mostly I'm crying with laughter. My husband thinks I'm bonkers and is like why are you watching this crap? I can't help it.

2. knit and crochet are two of my passions. OK that's no secret but really how can it be you think with all the yarn and hooks and needles laying around but still I don't think my family (DH or In laws) really know how much it means to me. I don't know why but I always ask for a trip to a LYS (like for my b-day in Jan) and I've yet to get it.. like for mothers day I wanted breakfast in bed and something the girls made me and a trip to this LYS. I got a lovely bracelet and earrings made by the girls and we went to olive garden for lunch....nothing fiber related. Depressing isn't it?

3. I'm lonely. And I miss my family terribly. I really am having a hard time living here.

4. Coke is the best. I prefer it over Pepsi and that seems to be the soda of choice around here. I can make due with wild cherry Pepsi but I always savor the flavor when I find Coke on tap (which is few and far btwn) it's the best that way.

5. I have Hodgkin's Lymphoma that has been in remission for 10 years now! PTL

6. I don't like dogs. I haven't since I was about 8 or so. (flashback) My family was visiting my grandparents in MD. They owned a farm and had this wonderful dog named Lady. she was really nice and wonderful with us kids. She had a pup named Killer. And he definitely lived up to his name. He used to chase the mailman and bite people on bikes. He was horrible. I'm not really sure why my Grandfather kept the dog around. I think maybe b/c he truly loved animals and couldn't bear to put it down. anyways we were in the barn my grandfather was milking the cows. and we kids were playing in the hay that was piled up. We liked to climb all over the bales of hay b/c they formed mazes and fun little rooms that we could play in. I was coming down from playing as it was time to go, and I ended up in one of those fun rooms. Only now it wasn't so fun the only way out was past Killer. I started to tiptoe past him b/c I didn't want to disturb him. Somehow I must have b/c the next thing I know he's growling and baring his teeth at me and has me cornered. I'm surprised he didn't attack me. I was crying and finally someone came to my rescue, I don't remember who. Shortly after that we never saw Killer again. I think my grandfather had him put down b/c no one messes with the grandchildren! I can make jokes about it now but really it was scary and traumatizing. so that's why I'm a cat person.

7. I love to play soccer, though i really don't watch pro soccer on the TV. I hope to join an adult team, after i lose most of my weight.

OK that's it.. now who do i tag? I'm not sure.. let's see.
Kelly
Pam
Megan
OK I'm out of people, at least people who didn't already do this one... sigh.

Knit on people!

Rain, Rain Go AWAY!

Today was dull and dreary and rainy. it has an effect on my mood and my hair! UGH frizz city, not to mention the wind.
Yesterday it was HOT and sunny and wonderful out. So wonderful in fact I pulled out the wading pool. The girls just loved playing in it. They didn't want to get out. I figured that they may as well play in the pool as long as they can. Supposedly it's going to snow tonight.. we'll see. Oh that reminds me i need to bring in the new plants i just planted.
While the girls were playing I was working on an amigurumi elephant for a friend. This is my progress, that's the head and I'm working on the body. hey I never said it was going to look like much. but it is proof that I'm working...right? I was thinking about showing more pix of the mystery gift for my sister but I think that may just push her over the edge.. LOL and we can't have that! anyways it's bed time so I'll bid you ado. Besides I have a date with a new book.
Remember knit friendly!

Craft Book Shelf...

So to update y'all on my last post... I know it came across misleading. The sleepover we had was with one girl not many. This child has been bugging the bub about sleeping over for weeks now. So Friday night was the night, and it was also the night I vowed she wouldn't be doing this again. Between the crying, lying, pushing, shoving, kicking, the horrible story telling, and just plain being mean to both of my daughters, I had to put my foot down. I explained to the girl sleeping over, that what she was doing wasn't acceptable and she wouldn't be invited back. I'm feeling mixed emotions b/c part of me is proud that my oldest daughter is able to befriend someone that no one else likes (and for a good reason, she's a bully) but then the other part is my protective momma part, so I won't subject my daughters to that at home. I'm sure you're thinking oh it couldn't be that bad, but believe me it was. I'm teaching my girls to be kind to everyone, that people should be respected and shown God's love shining through us. So that's why I'm having conflicting emotions. So I've explained to my daughter that it's OK to be nice to her friend but it's not OK to let her treat people the way she does. And that She needs to stand up to her friend and tell her it's not OK to be mean, esp to her little sister who can't do it for herself. It just broke my heart the way my daughter accepted how she was treated by this friend and how her younger sister was treated by this friend. So now I've got to figure out how to teach my Daughters to stand up for themselves, not in a mean way but in a way that they don't allow themselves to be abused like that.. if anyone has any ideas please share!

OK now on to my Crafty stuff don't want to bore you with the DRAMA of my mom-ness. (well at least not today) So my DH's Aunt just moved back to J-town from Montana, and she's crafty. Well since moving she's getting rid of most of her craft books... so she kindly enough brought them over to my house...
I went through them and since my daughter's school is having a flea market this coming weekend I'm going to give the stuff that I don't want to them to sell. I'm sure there's someone who want the book/magazines that weren't for me.
OK so I came away with about 27 craft magazines. most of them knit or crochet but there was some other stuff too. All of them are so retro, so some of the patterns are so dorky but there are others that are really cool so it's why I decided to keep them. One of my fave's is the one that had like a million snowman crafts. I LOVE snowmen!
And the really cool stuff I got were these really cool and totally Retro Knitting/crochet books.. The American Knitting Book, A Treasury of Knitting Patterns, and The encyclopedia of Knitting and Crochet stitch patterns. They're totally great! I'm so pumped to get them and finally a pix of my shelf of books. It starts with my binder of printed patterns (all organized, somewhat) and ends with a magazine/paper holder with my newest magazines. I love it.
OK so I'm going on and on about these books b/c I'm still working on my sister's baby gift so I can't share what I'm working on. I'm also working on an amigurumi elephant for a friend of mine.. but there's nothing really to show with it b/c it's all in the works.. I need to really just start working on ONE thing at a time. LOL but I'm not really sure I could do that. EEK!
anyways that's it for today!

Note To Self:
Do not agree to sleep overs for your daughters for the next 15 years.

Trip to the Zoo

Yesterday we went to the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium We'd bought some yearly passes last July so we thought it would be a good time to go again. This time they had the polar bears, but they are not finished with the whole exhibit. They're still working on the part where you walk through while the bears swim over you. I kept trying to get a pix of the girls in front of the bears but they weren't cooperating. So I give you a pix of the girls crawling out of the stingray tunnel. We're planning on going again next month when they do have the polar bear exhibit finished. I love the aquarium part of the zoo, esp the sea horses. The girls love the part where you pet the stingrays. I tried it too and it's really GROSS! Seeing the sharks (smaller ones) were what my DH really enjoyed. Of course the bears, lions, tigers, and all the other animals were really fun to see also. They have this part where you can walk through this part with deer to pet.. a neat idea if you like that sort of thing. The bub wanted to pet one but I got grossed out when the girl in front of us was licked by the deer. Luckily the deer wouldn't come near us which is good b/c it was so disgusting! And of course all the purell distributors were dry...luckily I carry some in my purse. The girls had saved some money from their grandparents and were able to purchase some stuffed animals, and also ride the merry-go-round. There were tons of people there I guess everyone was waiting for beautiful weather to go to the zoo. I decided that we should come in the winter and have the girls bundled up in their snow suits tromping through the snow to see the animals. I'm cracking up just thinking about that.

Calling Mom's

So all moms should head on over to five min for mom and enter their mom's day contests. they've got some great giveaways over there. And you don'thave to have a blog to enter so go on over and give it a try. But then again if you don't go over there, It gives me a better chance of winning!

Today is Thursday and I haven't gotten on the ball this week to give you a recipe so you'll have to visit Sandra she's got the hook up.

She's also haveing a book give-away go check it out!

Just a teaser

This post is for my sister Jessica, and for those of you who think I'm not doing anything crafty and such.
I can't tell you what I'm making but I wanted to tease you with some up close and personal pix of this project for my newest niece! I'm fully aware that she's getting bigger and I'm a HUGE procrastinator.. but once she gets this, I hope she's OK with the lateness. You're welcome to guess Jess, but I'm not telling you what it is! (anyone else can guess too)
So there you have it, Proof that I'm working and not slothing off!