Holiday slow down

It always feels like a huge rush to prepare for holidays, especially Christmas. Most years I am finishing my shopping the night before, running out and getting that one thing I forgot to pick up. This year, I don't think I was the only one. The decorations at work went up just three days before our Christmas break. That's OK though, I thoroughly enjoyed the decorations (even if I don't get to enjoy them for long). Now that the holidays are over, work is slow. I spend my days knitting for little babies that will make their debut this spring. One boy, one girl. This picture will be a zip-up-the-back baby sweater for the boy. I have not yet started anything for the little girl, but there is plenty of time. The book in the background is Edge of Eternity by Ken Follett, the 3rd book in the series. It is quite a large book and I am enjoying every page I read.

Wasn't so good at Blogging...let's change that!

So....attempt # 2. There have been some changes around the house. I had a career change, 2 of the 3 kids started at new schools, and a couple new seasons of sports were started.

I have been trying to make our goodies instead of buying them. I feel good knowing that i am putting time into making something sweet and "special" for my family.  A couple of weeks ago, I made miniature apple pies. They were de-lish! I changed it a little, just by eliminating the caramel. They took time to make (more time than the standard chocolate chip cookies), but judging by the amount of time that they disappeared (about 1.5 days) I would say that the time I put into them was well worth it!

The picture on the originators post is much, much better. Just looking at this picture makes me want to make them again, yummy! I figured since I had the trusty old camera out to take a picture of the mini pies, I thought I would play around a little and snap a couple pictures of the lemon used! I admit (shamelessly) that I do not purchase fresh lemons (or limes) often so when I cut this one and it was sitting on the cutting board, I thought, hmmm....wouldn't that be a good subject to play around with using my camera!

See that little seed...it's almost like it was a prop!

We also made some treats for the youngest for school, Thanksgiving day treats! She wanted to put Hershey kisses on top of pretzels, melt them and then add an M&M. I have never made these before, so I just assumed that the time they spent in the oven didn't matter. I was wrong! Did you know that you can burn chocolate?!?!?! I didn't. I'm not sure if it is all chocolate or just Hershey kisses, but when we tried to push them down with the M&Ms, the top just broke off. So, being the mom that I am that thinks quickly on my feet, I melted down some chocolate melts and splattered the chocolate across the chocolate. There were none that came back home (and she is still in Elementary school, so what they look like doesn't really matter all too much) so I assume they went over well.  

On the knitting front....I have quite a few projects on the needles. I started the sock yarn blanket back in January.  It's a little slow going, so I decided to do the same pattern but with different yarn (Caron Simply Soft) on size 8 needles. I have an awful lot of blue yarn left over from baby sweaters lately, so I decided to make this blanket out of the shades of blue (along with white, grays, black, cream, and brown). This project is moving much quicker than the sock yarn blanket, even though the sock yarn blanket is going to be MUCH more interesting and beautiful!  I have a deep hatred for blues, though you wouldn't be able to tell by the amount of blue yarn in my stash! The photo below was taken a couple days after this blanket was started. I will try really, really, really hard to snap pictures of this as it progresses, as well as the sock yarn blanket (I promise), as well as the other 19 million projects I have started!

Today was a BIG BIG day...More about that later....and this post has become pretty long. So, in the mean time, enjoy the photos of the scrumptious food, go check out the blogs linked in this post, and enjoy what is left of your weekend!

Sweet baby blanket

I have been working on this for longer than I should have. If I had to guess, I would say about 2 months or so. Why? I have no idea! It is a fairly easy pattern (I made it more difficult by changing colors and making the border all white). This blanket was requested by my step-daughter. That, in and of itself, made me happy! I knit to keep my hands busy, to relax at the end of the day, and to prove I can do a certain pattern. This blanket is going to my step-daughter's mom. She is expecting a boy in about 2 months.

Little baby items make me happy. It's hope for the future.  Maybe that generation will make smarter decisions, maybe they will invent things to make life easier, maybe they will overcome the diversity that makes the news every evening. Who knows!  However, knowing that I, personally picked the colors and spent time on an item made specifically for that individual makes me happy! Knowing the blanket he or she is wrapped in or the sweater or hat the baby is wearing was created for that particular baby, makes me happy! It's my way of saying I care, its my way of spreading the happiness around.

Have a great day!

The beginning....

This is the beginning of what I hope to be a spot to share happiness!  I work with the public and often times I find my job hard because most people today are demanding and are of the "I want it NOW" attitude. Mixed in with this group of people are some that are warm and friendly. These are the clients I get to know and don't mind hearing their stories. My goal is to keep record of these inspiring stories and other little things that put a smile on my face, so instead of screaming or crying (after getting yelled at by someone whose merchandise has not arrived yet) I can look back and remember that there is still some good out there.

So, this morning, I had an older woman come into our store looking for a particular piece. She was in the store for probably only 10 minutes or so. She was the sweetest woman, wearing a white turtle neck with a rose pin on the collar. I had come to learn that the house she is living in is over 100 years old and she is remodeling her bathrooms. I can just see this 80+ year old woman going up and down a step ladder to put wallpaper on her bathroom walls. She mentioned that she had this sharp pain in her leg for years and every morning she went to mass and prayed that the pain go away. About a year ago, she was walking into her front door and tripped over the step, fell and split her head open and broke her femur. She had to have surgery and have a rod put in her leg. Sad news, I know, but ever since her surgery, the mysterious pain in her leg is gone. She was driving 3 weeks after her surgery and has healed wonderfully. She is now able to run, yes, you read that correctly, if she has to. Not being able to run (in case of an emergency or whatever) was one problem she was having with this mysterious pain in her leg. When she was finished shopping, she said, "if you learn anything from me today, Be careful what you wish for". If you were to run into her, you would never know that a year ago she had surgery on her leg. She had a smile on her face when she walked in the store and a smile on her face when she left. She is a very happy, positive, kind person. What a great way to start the day off!