La La's Simple Shawl

Oh, I forgot..
I have been knitting a Manos of Uruguay Four Seasons fall throw, and I have one strip done of 3. I haven't taken a picture yet, but will. Also, I have been knitting La La's Simple Shawl out of Malabrigo Silky Merino, and I have to say this yarn is a dream to knit with my addis.... I already frogged twice, and the first time I had about 18 inches done!!%#@)*&^&$%$, yes, the life of a novice knitter.... but here is a picture of the third try above:

Doggie Treats

This is my latest batch of "Maya and Lalo's Yummy Doggie Treats".... I was going to frost them, but decided not to. For the next batch I am going to use a different cookie recipe that uses fresh orange juice and I will frost those.... so, if you have a dog, they are easy to make... and fun. Of course I love to bake....the recipe is simple, I have several that are very simple and dogs love em!!!

Wow, it's been FOREVER

Well, I have many times sat down and said, "Oh, geez, I really should post something here on my blog..." but failed to accomplish that... So much has happened this summer that I just dropped the ball. I really do love this little blog, but STUFF was on my mind so , anyways, blah, blah, blah......
That reminds me. The other day I took Alex to the eye doctor for a check up before school starts. We found that he needs glasses just to see the board, not always....we were in the exam room laughing and talking with the doctor, and we came out and sat down, and when I told him we'd try on some frames, he didn't quite get it...I asked him "Didn't you hear us talking about you needing glasses to see the board?" and he replied, "No! All I heard was 'blah blah blah blah blah...'" I said, "Oh, so you just heard 'adultspeak' language and not what we were talking about?" "Yeah." He was thankful that he doesn't have to wear them all the time. He was so shocked when I asked him to try on frames!! lol.
Well Karin starts teaching reading and writing to fourth graders in Houston in a few weeks! How exciting. I am excited for her! She will be a great teacher. Andres is working hard in Indiana, and Alex starts fourth grade this coming Monday! He and Russell are going on a Father-Son camping trip with our church. Russell is the speaker there.
My mom and dad and sister Marta need your prayers, please. My mom has now had her 3rd lower back surgery since June. They really need to figure out what is going wrong here, this just isn't right. Marta is there holding down the fort and staying with my mom and keeping my dad company. It's tough, Marta is a miracle. She has been there since the 2nd surgery on July 8 all the way from Michigan. I was there (in Albuquerque) a couple of times but my stays have been limited because I have to be here, too. Thanks for your prayers. Much appreciated.
This weekend when the boys go up to the mountains camping, I plan on painting and organizing my studio (craft room) downstairs. I don't like to really call it a craft room because that is too generic. I am not making stuff for a bazaar, but I create original works of art--hence--I call it a studio. Capiche? Well, if I get that done this weekend then I deserve a pat on the back, because we have lived here a year now and the room looks like a storage room. (Dare I take before and after pictures???)
On the other hand, depending on how my mom and dad and sis are doing, I may jump on a plane for Albuquerque. Depending.
Peace to you, my friends.

Whew!

Oldest dd has graduated officially from U of AZ and has a job with Teach for America!!! She is so excited I can hardly stand it!!! Oh, the excitement! Oh the praises we sing! Oh, I am tired........... we now are moving her back to Scottsdale, then in July to Houston.... she is buying herself a new car, and will be on her way....what more..... we are proud of her! More to come......

Capturing Moments

I took pictures of our 9 year old's bedroom to show the dresser I refinished....it was easy since I just sanded and painted it, and it turned out great! I got the handles at a garage sale---there is a decorator here who has garage sales and when I see them I always go! She sometimes has some really great stuff! Here are pics of the black dresser in Alex's room...here is the link to the blog entry where I showed the dresser being sanded down... It, too shows the finished one, but not in his room... yes, I got the dresser for $5 at Savers in Minneapolis when we lived there!!! Awesome, huh? I love to paint furniture and re-purpose stuff. Soon I will finish some chairs and I'll post them here to show you.......

Happy Easter, and.......

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter. We did, we just returned today from my parents' house in Albuquerque.
I am knitting another pair of socks, Tesserae sock pattern again, but this time around I understand it better and really see the mistakes I made on the first pair! lol.... anyways, it's with Yarntini "Designated Driver". I joined the malabrigo club on ravelry.com, too,through eat.sleep.knit.com in December, and I got 7 wondrous skeins of malabrigo worsted in lettuce. Ooooo, it's wondrous,and I finally decided to knit a sweater called Sandrine. I couldn't decide, kept going back and forth, so I'm pretty sure this will be it. Meanwhile, I got the next 2 shipments!! ha ha ! some malabrigo lace in "cognac", and some malabrigo sock in "indecita"---it's awesomely beautiful...so I have to post so much stuff on ravelry, and I have been neglecting that.... I also started knitting a prayer shawl. I joined the prayer shawl ministry at our church and I am working on that as well.
This Easter weekend was fun with my parents and brother and we flew one of my sisters in from Michigan for a couple of weeks so I loved seeing her, too. My mom is having back surgery on Wednesday and my sister is taking a couple of weeks off work to help her and my dad.
So, happy wishes to all and Hallelujah, He is Risen!!!!

25 Years!

Today is our 25th Wedding Anniversary! It doesn't seem like it's real! Wow!




Here are some words to Sade's "All About Our Love":

It's all about our love
So shall it be forever, never ending

After all this time,
After all is said and done

We have seen some suffering, baby
It has not always been perfect

After all this time,
After all is said and done

Darling, we know it
Whatever may come
We can get through it
As if its just begun
Oh, it's just begun

It's all about our love
So shall it be forever, never ending
Darling, we know it

After all this time,
After all is said and done
After all this time,
After all is said and done

I love you, Russell.

My Rainbow. What's Yours?

Your rainbow is strongly shaded violet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is says about you: You are a creative person. You appreciate beauty and craftsmanship. You are patient and will keep trying to understand something until you've mastered it.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

The Dresser I Refinished

Wow, blogger has decided to allow me ACCESS to my blog so I can post again! How lucky am I? (ggrrrgh) So, today I am posting pictures of that dresser bought for $5 in Minnesota. I sanded it a little, refinished it and put new little knobs (not really knobs, but little handles).
It didn't take much sanding, as I was just going to paint it. Wa-la!
Alex likes it, and I like to do stuff like this!!! Love it! Always looking around for what else I can paint or alter!!! (evil laugh).....

My Recipe Collection

har har har, yes, here are some photos of my recipes. In a drawer, and I also have some in a little recipe box, and I have some stuffed in between cookbooks. My goal is to organize them, and have them ready to put in a scrap book form, so I can enjoy seeing them while I cook.....
I love to cook, but lately have been uninspired, so I figure if I menu plan and organize my recipes, it'll be more fun. I really do love to cook, don't know what's up with me the past several months. Saturday we went to some friends' and I made a Strawberry Charlotte Russe, Eclairs, and Enchiladas Suizas. YUM.. The 2 desserts were first tries and were wonderful; the enchiladas I make all the time. I found a blog entitled Vintage Mommy, and I love that title! I love her blog as well!! And I LOVE the feet picture she has in the title!!! Vintage is a nice word...and better than some of the synonyms I looked up!! LOL
I also tried to start another blog because I am getting so disgusted with blogger...I tried Wordpress but I am unsure....

Our Dogs and Cat in Their Christmas Best

OK, I finally got the pictures for the dogs Christmas garb. I even changed my profile picture to reflect that. Here they are! Maya's picture turned out dark, Lalo's is fine, and Frankie's (cat) is ok too. I also have dresser pics but Blogger is making me almost scream so I might even be changing my blog soon to a different one...keep ya posted! Thanks for looking.
p.s. Can you tell Maya is terribly camera shy??? :) poor girl. She is a sweetheart!

Organize!

OK! I am going to have an organizing project for February. You can see the site by clicking on the button here on the left side of my blog. I missed January, (boo hoo) BUT the end of February, if done correctly, will find my recipes, all 90 million of them organized! So, I am just adding this little piece of business to my life, which is really positive, and hopefully will be beneficial to the smooth running of things around here. Once recipes are organized, maybe I'll be able to take the next step, and REALLY menu plan..........

February 9

Hasn't been quite a month, but almost! Facebook, I tell you, is in competition here. Spring Break Plans are already shaping up and little guy really wants to go to Disneyland again....this time with a trip to Universal Studios. So, we will do that in mid March.
Knitting? Well, yes, that. I love my yarn........I want to start a pair of socks again, but there are all kinds of excuses getting in the way! I also joined a Malabrigo Yarn Club, and we are getting our second shipment, mine should come next week, and I think it's a sweater! So, here we go! I love to see what other people are working on. Wish I knew more knitters down here in Scottsdale and Phoenix.
I painted Alex's bedroom a lovely khaki tan...it looks much better than it did. I am refinishing his dresser, the one I bought at Savers in Minneapolis for $5!.......I am painting it black and I bought very cool silver/pewter drawer pulls at a garage sale the other day --the owner is a designer and gosh, she had gobs of fun stuff! I bought bolts of designer fabric for $2 -$5 a roll! And cool trims! (anyways, Alex wanted red and black walls-so I'm giving him a black dresser instead)- and Russell is going to put up his Devin Hester (Chicago Bears) giant wall decal (I can't remember what they're called right now) -A life-size decal of the wondrous football player is all I know for sure.
Oh, and I got my hair all cut off and colored one color (espresso) instead of highlights...kind of short, yes, but it'll grow. Hubby says it really is nice other than that he likes long hair better, in general... he is so nice about it! It really is a nice cut, but I miss my hair to tell you the truth!
Today, I also plan to get out there and get on the elliptical ......
What else? Spent an hour at the library this morning perusing books for Alex to read and also looking at cookbooks. So, I have been busy, I also bought fabric and trim for some different window coverings in my studio downstairs. I want to paint the walls, too. I have a lot to do down there, in terms of organizing and decorating. The fabric I got is wondrous. Where is my camera, again??? I didn't lie when I said I'd post photos, I just haven't gotten there yet!
Well, I'm off. Have a blessed day!

Tuesday

It's already Tuesday and I have so much to do I am dizzy! Today I am making a list for all the projects I have to do around this house. One of them is to post more photos. I didn't take nearly enough photos over Christmas, I could shoot myself (with a water gun) I regret that I was so busy with guests that I didn't take more pictures. No, that came out wrong. I loved my family and guests here, I just wish I took photos to remember......
You know I was laughing to myself because I write here and I write I guess to myself and a very limited but SPECIAL audience!! Maybe my readers are just clandestine, or can't type, oh, maybe they don't have arms or toes or lips to punch the keyboard. Who knows, but I am happy to write to my few and faithful friends....lol oh geez! Thanks to those who visit me!!!!

Happy New Year!

Yes, yes, old news....but life is getting back to a normal pace...dropped off oldest daughter at school yesterday, and oldest son had to go back January3rd. School has started again for Alex, and this are slowly snapping back to a different pace.
Speaking of slowly....Alex got a new turtle pet. Named him Bob. He's a red eared slider and tiny now. but unoffensive and quiet...just right! Soooo, of course we had to add to the menagerie here. (No more comments about that).
Alex had basketball practice today and got signed up for Spring Little League..he is in the Minors this year. He is so happy when he playing with some kind of ball. It's a boy thing.
Dogs were cute for Christmas, dressed up in Xmas garb, holly collars and elf hats..took pics but don't know how well they turned out yet. OK,OK, I'll post them, but later. I know you can't wait...LOL...