No post yesterday - I was too tired. For some reason I could barely keep my eyes open so Zeus & I napped for a few hours. I've gotten some knitting in at work the past 2 nights though as things have been thankfully slow. Now if we can keep on with that through the weekend I will be a happy girl. I have about 10 rows left on the border of my shawl then bind off & pics! I spent what time I was awake yesterday happily wasting time online. Let me introduce you to 1 of my all time favorite sites: http://ana-white.com/. For those of you who love new furniture but don't love the price tag and don't mind breaking a sweat you will love this site. Free plans for building all kinds of things: beds, bookshelves, outdoor sofa, pergola, etc. I have a giant binder with plans for all kinds of things, poor hubby his honey do list is super long ;) This is yet another of my favorites & it's full of ideas & tips for doing things around the home. http://www.familyhandyman.com

I got a little something new for the Wii this week too. Yes this will be my new workout routine. Oldest boy has a birthday tomorrow & I came across this deal while online looking for something for him. I'll be getting started with that once the weather cools off. I am not a fan of Summer, in fact I could go so far as to say I despise Summer, I always have. Perhaps this is due to being an Aries, thus a fire sign, I dunno but I really feel awful pretty much all Summer long. Needless to say I will be happy when Fall finally arrives. Working out with the Wii, hiking, long walks. The kids got this for the Wii as 1 of A's birthday presents. Those 2 love all things football lately so I thought this would be a good thing since they are also all about the Wii. I swear they would play Madden from sun up until midnight or later if I'd let them. Since I've been negligent with the pics lately but I still don't have anything productive to post here's a nice shot of how I spent my afternoon today after the kids & I got back from the grocery store. Yep that's my brat! He has to snuggle just as close as he can get.

I Need Some Color

I've spent far too many years with plain old boring off white wall & frankly I'm sick of them. So I've been seriously thinking about colors this week. At first all the kitchen is getting is new colors but just you wait I have big plans for that area. One of these days we are going to upgrade to butcher block counter tops *swoon* I cannot wait! I even found a tutorial to DIY!! But in the mean time there will be some color in that boring drab room. Imagine those colors with butcher block counter tops & stainless steel appliances! oh yeah & wood floors. I had originally planned to do white appliances since my kitchen is small but I scored a brand new stainless/black smooth top stove for $100 so my decision was made for me. Eventually I want to completely re-arrange how the cabinets are & everything. Once I get things semi-situated I'll post some pics & you'll see why. The master bedroom is also going to get some color. Basically there will be no more white or off white walls in this house with the possible exception of the weight/storage room. The colors for the bedroom. How many hubby's would be fine with a purple bedroom? Mine is :)  Thinking these colors for the bathroom upstairs. Then for the living room light yellow walls & re-upholstering the furniture with this color and adding some pillows in colors to accentuate. I love pinterest, it's my newest addiction. If anyone needs an invite please feel free to email me & I can send you one. I have to warn you it is totally addictive but you can find amazing ideas there. I'm seriously considering this color for the den walls, something really neutral for the pallet seating, then bright colors for the bean bag chairs & accent pillows. Since the floor plan downstairs is so open I may just do that turquoise for the walls in the office & craft room too.
The only downside to all this cleaning & planning is not much time for knitting. :(
But I am almost done with the Purple Martin shawl, I'm down to the lace border then bind off & block. Pics to follow soon :)

Some Outdoor Fun

Well the fun moved outside today. The kids & I tackled the yard & the carport. We scored a big metal cabinet for free....the kind with adjustable shelves & doors. Oh I am a happy girl & I'm sure my neighbors will be happy too as now I'll be able to keep my carport far more organized. So the kids chore for the day was to get rid of any trash, clean off the desk (which will be repurposed elsewhere) and put the cabinet on the carport & put all the stuff in it in an organized fashion. Next up hubby is going to build me a potting-bench we also found in the basement our old dining room table from before we had the kiddos it's a small round table so we've decided to repurpose that as a table for sitting outside on the carport. We just need to paint it & we also have some office type chairs (the kind you typically find in waiting rooms) so I'm gonna reupholster them with some pretty fabric & paint the metal part white. Oh I can't wait! And the man informed me the other day that they often get pallets in with flat tops!! Why would that excite me so much you ask? Well we've been talking about building a deck just outside the sliding glass door in the back yard for years now. But as you know those are a lot of work & wood can get pricey. Well take a bunch of those solid top pallets, attach them together, weatherproof them and you have...... a deck with no cost & not too much work! The man says I am a genius :) Then all we have to do is build the pergola & the outdoor sofa and that little section of the yard will be perfect. For the garden section I found this blog talking about using an old crib to make a bench. I totally never would have thought of that myself but I really want one now. And as luck would have it we happen to still have the crib the kiddos used when they were babies in the basement! See sometimes being a procrastinator can be a good thing? :D I promise there will be pics coming of the things we're doing here just be patient.

Changes lots & lots of changes........

What's changing you ask? Well along with the upstairs we have now started remodeling the basement. I couldn't be more excited! Why? Because I'm getting a craft room *insert happy dance* I have wanted a craft room for a long time now & finally it's gonna happen. A place where I can organize all of my yarn, sewing machine, fabric, patterns, books, etc. Now if only I could get a certain someone to come up here & help me with all of this organizing. But alas she is too busy doing her teaching thing ;) But hey Chickie if you change your mind there's some Malabrigo in it for ya.... oh yeah I play dirty lol  The best part though is once hubby got down there cleaning out the clutter I have found a lot of the things I need already in my basement. Some just need a coat of paint ie: desk for my sewing machine, some need some doors ie: bookcases to be used for yarn storage (we're gonna put some plexiglass doors on them so I can see what I have instead of having to dig through giant plastic tubs. He also found an old glass stereo cabinet which will also become a yarn storage cabinet. There's a plastic 3 drawer organizer down there which I think will be perfect for my fabric stash. He's going to build me some cabinets running around the edge of the room. I seriously cannot wait! There will also be a weight/storage/workshop room, a Den, an Office, the pantry & a bathroom down there. The bathroom was already there when we moved in... has a sink, toilet & shower stall in it but only 1 wall. I find it a little disturbing that they wouldn't close in a bathroom but hey to each their own right? There will be no before pics of my basement, pretty sure I'd die of shame if I posted something like that. But I promise to post after and even some in progress pics. I even found this pic of seating made from pallets for the Den: pallet seating  Is that not awesome? Since the hubster can get free pallets from work that means all our cost will be is whatever the fabric & foam cost *woot*  We already have a cabinet that will work perfect for a media stand. All it needs is a couple more shelves & a coat of paint, then he'll build some dvd media towers for either side of the media center, a coffee table & end tables made from..... you guessed it pallets. I've also found a tutorial about making bean bag chairs - oh yeah you know those will look great in with pallet furniture. The laundry room is getting some attention too: shelves, some wooden clothes racks, etc.  Oh the pics to come......

Back from Vacation and with an FO at that!

Last week was vacation week, I packed up the kiddos & headed to grandpa's house. It was really great having a week where I didn't have to clean house, go to work.... well you get the idea. I also got to spend some quality time with my little sister. There's 10 years between us so we've never really gotten to spend lots of time together :(  But we had a whole week to spend together, we had a great time thrift shopping, crafting & cooking.  She's getting ready to open an etsy shop .....that girl has some serious jewelry making talent! I put the bug in her ear about making stitch markers for us knitters ;) She even made me some super cute fishy stitch markers. Can't get a better pic than this....sorry

I also finished the shawl for my friend Kim. Now I was only blessed with 1 biological sister but consider myself very lucky that I have 2 more sisters I gained along my way through life. I worked with Kim once upon a time & we became instant friends, neither of us work there anymore but we've always kept in touch. A little over 3 years ago oldest kiddo was in an accident & was hospitalized for over 3 months.....we almost lost him as it was touch & go for awhile. The day after the accident I called Kim to tell her, her first words to me were "I'll be there as soon as I can". It's not often you find friends like that. That same time period is when I gained my other sister, Auburnchick (her online name). She & I had met on a knitting website a few months earlier & had chatted a few times, I emailed her asking her to pray for us. I had no idea she would end up being 1 of the closest people in my life. When she had details of where we were (what hospital), she called me every day during what were the 3 hardest months of my life. We still text each other daily & talk on the phone several times a week. It's amazing how sometimes you find just what you need when you aren't even looking.......
Ok now that I've gotten all mushy how about a pic of that shawl? Now I haven't blocked it yet so it's much smaller than it will be once It's done blocking.

And last but certainly not least here's a pic of the current WIP I spend the most time with, the Oaklet Shawl in Unplanned peacock colorway is Purple Martin

Look Who's Back

Wow it's hard to believe it's been over a month since my last blog post. Sorry about that life has been a little hectic here lately. Here are a few of the things to share:
1) I got the yarn from the local lady that hand dyes & oh my is it ever lovely!

I've been looking at shawl patterns on ravelry & think the oaklet shawl is what I will make with it.

2) I've been working on a shawl for 1 of my best friends. Kim is the kind of friend that you can call at 3am and she'd totally be there for you. I luv her bunches so I decided a boneyard shawl in her fave color would be a great way to say thank you for being an awesome friend. Here is my progress so far.....well it's a little bigger now since I took this pic a couple weeks ago.

 3) and last but not least here is a pic of yesterday's yields from the garden

Last week we got a basket of beans & onions, this week tomatoes. Hopefully next year we'll get an earlier start & have a bunch to can :)