WIP Day

Today I have pics of 2 of my current wip's (work in progress - for those who don't knit). First up is my Boneyard Shawl - oh my this pattern is super addictive! And I love how the Wollmeise is knitting up.

Next up is the baby blanket for my coworker who is due with her second son in July. She & her hubby are big football fans & the babies room will have a snoopy sports theme so I thought this would be perfect :)

What A Day!

So we are finally getting around to some of the remodel projects I've wanted to get done for awhile now. My bathroom being the worst room..... I'm pretty sure there were some good drugs involved in the picking of the color scheme. There's really no other explanation for cream colored walls outside of the shower, seafoam green tile on the walls inside the shower, brick red linoleum on the floors & a dark brown cabinet. All mind you in a teeny tiny bathroom...... nauseous yet?? Well here are some pics to finish you off:

 

 Now the cabinet has already been removed - hubby did that for me last weekend. The pic is upside down & sideways if that makes sense but I forgot to take
pics before he removed it, halfway destroyed it & tossed it outside so....
We now have a nice white cabinet in there. And today I went & bought ceramic tile to cover that hideous linoleum with  *happy dance*
I'm proud of myself I only spent 2 hours in Lowe's wandering around adding to my wishlist :D
But I came home with backer board & screws - can't lay ceramic tile on just anything ya know. The tile, mortar, grout, trowel,etc. Also picked up an insulator for my water heater - not the most attractive thing but I bet it will save on my gas bill so who cares? Spickets for my rain barrels, a handle for my water faucet in the backyard (thanks to Bully boy eating the last one) and a roll of fencing for the backyard. I still need to figure out what posts I want to use for the fencing & get them but not bad for a days work....
Now for some pretty spring pics - remember last time I talked about my peach & pear trees? Well here you can see first hand:

 these are my peach trees
<------ the one that almost died last year
and this one ------>
is the 2nd one I bought later in the season which is why it's so much smaller. And below we have the pear tree out front.  Behind the Pear tree is 1 of the apple trees. They seem to have been hit harder by winter this year :( but they are all still alive & in fact have little leaves so I'm not too concerned yet.

Spring is here!!

Happy 1st day of Spring everyone!!! I am so looking forward to planting my garden. We're going to be expanding our garden this year too. Last year we started with 2 square foot gardens in the front yard as well as the flower bed & some hanging baskets. This year we're going to fence off part of the back yard to keep the dogs out & plant some more back there. The basic plan is to put herbs, lettuce, radishes, things that stay relatively small out in the front section & put the things that need a trellis & get bigger in the back yard. Trying to keep the front looking neat & clean for the neighbors :) My 2 peach trees out back are both beginning to flower! There's a long story behind 1 of my poor peach trees..... she was sitting sad & lonely outside of a Big Lots one day and let me tell you she was looking rough! I decided to buy her anyway as I was convinced I could bring her back to glory. So I bring my little peach home & plant her out front with my 2 apple trees & pear tree. Well as it turns out poor peach didn't like the front yard....she sat there looking worse & worse until finally I decided to move her to the back yard on the slight hill we have & boy did she ever appreciate the move! Within 2 weeks she was getting little buds on her!! I also got another peach tree to plant out there with her & she has been a happy little tree since then. Sometimes you just have to try different things with plants. If at first you don't succeed and they aren't happy.....give them extra love, fertilizer and when all else fails move them until you find where/ what they want. I've gotten some planting catalogs in the mail recently & I am having a fine time imagining the things I can do with my garden this year. I'll be sure to take lots of pics :)

Also I have a confession....... I have been bad. I have started yet another wip :O
But in my defense who buys Wollmeise yarn & doesn't just go ahead and knit with it?? I have to say that there is no way Wollmeise is going on my feet....are you crazy? So that being said I had to think long and hard about just what I was going to do with this yarn. I finally decided on a shawl but not just any shawl you see I had to make sure this would be one I'd actually use and often. So finally after many hours of searching through my queue on ravelry I decided on the boneyard-shawl since I can see myself wearing something like this pretty much all the time. You see I am not a girly girl I like plain & simple things mostly. Now this doesn't mean I don't like pretty frilly things it just means they wouldn't get used much so I don't make them very often.

Time Flies........

Wow it seems it's been a long time since I've posted.....Thanks Chicky for reminding me :)
So I finished the baby hats for March baby #2! Gave them to the daddy-to-be & he was ever so appreciative. Even told me that handmade gifts mean so much more than store bought gifts.....just what any crafter wants to hear!! Forgot to take pics of the finished hats but there were 3 of them 1-dark blue, 1-light blue & 1-med green. Oh & my package made it to India in 2 weeks! :O
Now how mail makes it to India in 2 weeks but Algeria takes 2 months I will never know....India is a bit further away after all. Gotta love the postal peeps |-(
Anyway so while I've been away I've been busy cleaning.....found small animal cages & water bottles to donate to the wildlife rehab center, more baby stuff for March baby #2, more clothes my kids have outgrown (will they ever stop growing??) & more shoes I had forgotten about *woot* I do love me some shoes lol
I've also been experimenting in the kitchen. I had been stuck in a rut cooking the same few things over & over - how boring right? So I've decided to make some changes. Some things have gone over well ie: Moroccan Lentil Soup...some things not so much ie: Butternut Squash Soup. I've decided that we should consume less meat so I've been making a lot of meatless dishes & I have to say I have felt better for it. Youngest kiddo turned 11 on Monday (2/28/11) and I made his fave which is meat & potatoes with gravy in crock pot & all 3 of the guys said to me "it feels weird eating all this meat". Another big hit here has been the 16 bean soup.....you can find this bag in any store that sells dried beans. I throw away that little packet of seasonings (ewww what's in there anyway??) and do it myself. Add some boullion of your choice flavor, some various spices of your choice, a little barley for added fiber & let it cook all day. YUMM! Today's experiment is Moroccan Couscous Stew in the crock pot which will hopefully taste as good as it sounds.....recipe here. I altered it slightly....DS#2 is a squash hater so I used potatoes instead (read somewhere that any root veggies are fine) & I added some lentils & barley for a little  added bulk since if I just make a soup the guys will not be full & will continue to eat all night long. Oh the joys of teenage boys.
I also found while cleaning the stash of gloves  I had collected to send to the reservation.....yeah 36 pairs of gloves ranging from toddler size to 1sz fits all :O
Mailed a box out yesterday containing 15 pairs of 1sz fits all gloves, 12 pairs of toddler sz gloves, 4 long sleeved onesies, 1 sweater vest, 3 1sz fits all hats, 2 pairs of thermal pants & 1 thermal top.

I've already found some more things I had gathered up to send too... 1 box at a time. And last but not least my coworker found out she's having a boy so on to some more baby boy knitting - fun times. I don't think she reads my blog but just in case I'm not posting any details until after she gets what I'm working on :)