How to train your kitty

bahahaha, i crack myself up.

this is after about 20 minutes of trying to get the wind-up train to ride the track around the kitty's neck and laughing hysterically at him. he just sat there. he takes so much abuse from the 2-year-old i figure this was probably relaxing for him.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas review

My Christmas was good. Devin had a good one too. Lots of toys, but I am most excited about the games. Most board-type games are for ages 3+ so we are attempting to teach him to play them. Attempting being the keyword LOL. He doesn't have much of an attention span still, but I think he mostly understands the rules. Following the rules is a different story.

The entire weekend was good. I had a chance to catch up with my high school girlfriends on Friday night. We had snacks, games, and gifts. Like we usually do around this time each year. I love that we do that.

Saturday, we were at my parents' house and went to church in the afternoon, had dinner and opened presents. I gave 2 of the 3 pairs of socks I've knit as gifts. 

one
for my mom

 



and two. these are actually slippers though.
for my littlest sister

Sunday, we had Olson Family Christmas with my dad's brothers' families. This has always been my favorite event of the year. It has changed over the years, but I think it's back & better than ever, because of the babies! Even though there's only 3 of them so far... all boys.. what are the chances!

I was almost actually anxious to get back to work and away from trays of christmas treats on Tuesday. haha. Though I can never get enough of staying at my parents' house and hanging with my siblings. Seriously, we played Wii until the wee hours (hehehe) each night, Friday through Sunday night. Now I think I need one. :)

Even though I had a great weekend, we also dealt with some hard stuff and I have an amazing sense of relief right now. I am so glad to say that my office closes at noon tomorrow and doesn't open until 8am Tuesday and I have not one single plan in between. I hope to keep it that way!

WIP Wednesday

i only have a quick second, but just in case you're wondering there is only one project on my needles at the moment.

love this chroma worsted. I got mixtape.. :)

Im making a calorimetry. (or probably two)

WIP Wednesday

if it is in fact wednesday(?)... i've lost track this week.

I just wanted to show off my purple mittens.

these things are making me happy.

i know. i keep saying i don't really like variegated yarn, but this one i had to try. it was part of my cyber monday order and this colorway was close-out clearance price, and you know me and deals, so i went for it.

 I love how big the stitches are and this chunky wool means the mittens are the perfect thickness and pretty warm.

these have been really quick to knit and they are just about done, just in time for snow in Fargo. which, by the way, it is almost unbelievable (and really awesome, in my opinion) that we don't have any right now.

the christmas lights look kinda funny without snow covering them though.

{TUSAL} Final

this picture is crap and also following the full moon, rather than the new moon - my bad!

here we have it. my final entry of the totally-useless-stitch-a-long.

there is a piece of every project i've knit in the last year in this jar.

that, i think, is the cool thing about this project.

I also think i might feel bad when I dump it in the trash lol.

for more info on the totally useless stitch along, go here.

there will be a new one starting in the new year!!

woo-hoo!

i hope everyone is feeling happy today!

i am!

my (lone) cyber monday package came today.

guess what i got?

i'm sure you're shocked and thrilled that i bought more yarn.

I got a vaiety of colors that I am pleased with, and I got some of almost every weight. besides sock. which i had intended to order but got lace instead (the silver ones). it'll do anyhow, but oops. and this time it's not for socks.

speaking of.. i think i've had only footwear on my needles since finishing the carefree cowl knit-along. i'm almost completed with my 3rd pair.

now that is shocking, since my first and second (and third, in a way) sock attemps were complete failures and left me feeling very hopeless against socks and now... i guess i like them a little. And I'll show off all 3 of my pairs here pretty soon.

i'm pretty sure i caught him talking. it's funny.

so anyways. i can die happy and maybe knit some Christmas goodies in the next 17 days {17 days!?!?!?!?!? aaaahhh!!!}

this and this also made me smile today.

sorry about yesterdays vague-ness. we are going through some drama with rob's mom and her divorcing her husband. we didn't get to relax last weekend. and that is what i do on weekends. if it doesn't happen i become kind of bitter at whoever or whatever ruins it. rant over.

here's a little cuteness to make up for yesterday:

Devin wanted pictures of all his stuffed animals one day and stood in front of me begging until he had a shot of each one.

concerning my haircut. i got about 8 inches cut off and let me tell you something...

for the last month or so i've had some serious shoulder, neck & back pain, as well as headaches.

*poof* just like that, i feel about 85% better now that my hair is short. gotta love that!
also, my hair is so soft and easy to brush now that like 3 years worth of split ends are gone!

Happy Tuesday!

i like cake

and the icing on top of the shit-cake we had this weekend was...

my car not starting this morning.

awesome.

at least cake is awesome.

which makes me think... i may have to make some tonight.

chocolate cake.

p.s. i have short hair now. and bangs.

happy monday!

thanksgiving

How was everyone's thanksgiving?
Ours was wonderful. I wish it was Thanksgiving every weekend.
This year was my first year of preparing & bringing a food item for the big meal! My mom dictated what I brought and what went in it, so we were good as far as not bringing something nasty.

Santa made an unexpected appearance at my parents' house while we were there! That was all for Devin - lucky boy! Santa brought Devin a small bag of {leftover halloween?} candy, and they chatted for a few minutes. This was Devin's first time seeing Santa in real life and I was suprised at how cool he was about it. When he left, Devin walked up to Santa and said "thanks for christmas" - it was the cutest/funniest thing ever.

Devin got to sleep over at Grandma & Grandpa's and then the next day we met up for supper with Leighton & family. Can you believe my boy is SIX??? He totally knows his stuff when it comes to Cars2. I got him a little birthday gift with the cars characters and he talked my ear off about each character. He's pretty shy, so it was neat to hear all he had to say.

Besides that, our weekend was pretty quiet. I got a chance to change my nail polish (exciting!!) and I think I wore a hole in my finger from knitting too much :)

a good weekend

i don't know whether or not i've mentioned.. work has been sloooww lately. it's good and bad. like, good that we aren't behind on stuff, or have stacks and stacks of work (or god forbid... take work home!!). and bad that... well, i'm bored. i wish I could knit at work!! (and wear slippers, but that might be taking it a bit far. it is cold in here though)
So anyways, I had a project to finish at home, one day left (for this year) of taking Devin out of daycare without having to pay for the day, and Rob has had his truck in his friends shop for a week, so I thought he could take mine over to finish up his and I took Friday off to stay home with my little man and attack mt. laundry.

how is he old enough to help himself in the kitchen??
in a diaper, no less! haha

here's a list of happies from the weekend:
-needed and wore my sunglasses on more than one occasion.
-slept in 3 days in a row - 9:50, 10:50, and 11:00 am, respectively (thank you devin)
-finished my project so I had time for more personal knitting
-went to Breaking Dawn with my little sister
-got a cool cup from the movie theater!
-put up one string of white Christmas lights in my kitchen window
-Devin wearing all purple on Sunday - too bad our team sucks

The only thing missing is that we were supposed to meet our friends' new baby, but since Rob had some unexpected trouble with the whole fixing his truck thing, we didn't have time, hopefully this week sometime though.

happy monday!

Awards?

So, did anybody else watch the Country Music Awards last night?
I did. And I thought there were alot of really good performers!
Also, I kinda wanted to stomp my feet when Taylor swift won entertainer of the year. She is like... bad. And annoying being played on every station. I would have been happy with anyone other than her winning.

Plus, there are so many songs lately that sound so similar to me and are sort of whiney, sad story type.
Too many! I normally wouldn't mind, but I've been listening to one particular radio station for almost 24/7 like a month now trying to win cash (the girls in the office are doing the same - we're registered online and hoping they call our name to win money) and this station really over-does it on the sappy. The contest should be ending tomorrow and I am so putting Christmas music on Pandora at work until Christmas is over!

Nothing else Christmas has come out at our house, but the music is definitely welcome!
TGIF, tomorrow!

{still} carefree

I wasn't sure I'd have time to knit up another cowl for the Carefree Cowl knit-along, but I really wanted to make the purl bee's bandana cowl.

pretty right? so I got yarn, and got at it. I finished in a day, but actually, I didn't finish. I ran out of yarn and decided that I had the wrong yarn/needle combo to begin with and wound it back into a ball!
But, still, I wanted to have at least one more cowl. so,

it's basically a tube. i just cast on (60, or was it 70? stitches) and did a few rounds of rib and a bunch of stockinette, and then a few more rounds of ribbing until I thought i was going to run out of yarn.

I love fat yarn.

one of these days i'll get my bandana cowl made... but today is the last day for the knit-a-long.

it's been real, and it's been fun. it's been real, carefree fun.

{TUSAL} - October

Hi there. Not much going on over here other than the usual: working, hanging out with my little fam, knitting and being glad it hasn't snowed in Fargo yet. I really hate scraping frost off my windsheild in the morning rush and as of today, that has officially begun. blah. (also I generally hate the morning rush.)

I guess we have a new moon and so here I present to you: my project (err, jar o scraps):

(also, pluto pez that devin picked out at the grocery store last night and forgot all about thank goodness)
can't wait for this stitch along to be over with.

Lately I have been wanting to enjoy the fresh air so and not be bored so Devin and I have been taking a walk around the block once it gets dark outside. Best.idea.ever. I never have to hang out at the park while he slides the same slide 934 times. If we go for a walk during daylight he immediately goes to the park and we don't get to walk anywhere. Plus, he is a little sweetie about staying by mama in the dark and he even holds my hand! I love holding his sweet little sticky hands!

Ps. what is everyone being for halloween? i have no costume ideas what-so-ever and we may be going to a grown-up dress-up party (depending on whether or not we have a babysitter...). Devin is going to use his same costume dragon from last year, because I dug it out of his closet and he totally dug it. He even made a scary pose and growl.

Carefree Cowl: Leafy Lavande

So last week, I saw this cowl on KnitPurlGurl and I knew I wanted one. Or to make one. Hard to tell the difference sometimes. Coincidentally (and luckily), Shannon at luvinthemommyhood announced a few days later that she was hosting a Carefree Cowl Knit-a-Long.

Well how perfect is the timing? So I set out and purchased my pattern (my very first non-free pattern, whoohoo!) and my yarn on payday Friday. I was feeling happy that day and spent $15 on this one skein. Also a milestone, because I've never paid even half that for one skein, until that day. Even though I love this color, I was having a hard time choosing between doing the green that I knew I'd love or white. I am dying to knit something white, and I don't even know why, but white has been calling me lately. I may have a nice excuse to make another Lavande haha.

So anyways, I had this knit up over the weekend (end date for the KAL isn't until next month) and wet blocking on Sunday night. It was exciting to see the lace panel show up the way it was intended and the rest of the pattern came out perfectly, it was really simple and quick! I did one extra lace repeat because it is my favorite part of the pattern, it's just pretty. When I first started I had size 13 needles, but I wasn't liking it so I started over with size 15. Size 15 needles are fun to knit with because they're enormous, makes you feel almost like a cartoon haha.

and finally, my last favorite part of this project is the buttons.

aren't they just sweet with the stamped leaves? I feel like this yarn, pattern and buttons were just made for each other. The whole thing just makes me smile.

boys & tractors

Hi there!
Yes, I'm still here.

remember a couple weeks ago (a week ago? who knows anymore) when I said Rob was going to be working long hours. That was a lie... and tiny accidental lie, it ended up being too warm for them to lift (sugar) beets for a whole week after i said that. Now he is really working double time!! On the weekend he's doing noon to midnight and during the week, 6am to midnight. It will be over very soon. On Sunday we followed him out to the field - because otherwise we'd get really lost, my skillz with directions are not good when there aren't any landmarks other than stop signs and dirt roads - and Devin and I got to go for a ride in a red tractor. Up until last weekend when my little sister's boyfriend brought him a toy red tractor, he Devin thought all tractors were green. He thought it was totally cool that dad was picking the 'vegetables' and putting them 'up there' and in the truck.
Here's D last year driving tractor:

So while dad's at work, I'm on my own getting us up and dressed, and out the door. I am usually the one to drop D off in the morning, but it's harder getting out the door {on time, the most important part} without an extra set of hands. Same goes for getting home and eating supper - the kid hates supper almost every day. And I hate enduring it alone, I hate getting into bed alone too, especially now that the weather is cooling off and the sheets are cold when I get in. We've been keeping it fairly simple and it's been going pretty well, even if I have to let him eat supper like a doggy, haha.

Also this week, I joined luvinthemommyhood's Carefree Cowl Knit-a-long. I got some sweet yarn from the yarn shop! That place makes me happy, I don't go often enough. I'll come back and tell you about my project this week.

WIP Wednesday - mobile knitting

 So, I have 2 hours for lunch every day (except friday, when i get off work early), and it is not very economical for me to drive home for lunch every single day (it's pretty much across town). Some days I like to go home and clean without anybody around, sometimes I'll make appointments for lunch time and still have time to eat, sometimes I visit with friends, or do errands, etc. And sometimes being alone without going home is cool too. Right now we are having prime weather for mobile knitting. As in, parking in a quiet spot not far from my office and knitting with the windows down and radio on. What am I working on {i hear you asking..}? Bobble scarf. And i'm still deciding if I like it.

I did this today but not before stopping at hobbylobby for this:

size 2 - socks - yes i'm crazy

we are also having prime weather for swinging at the park and picking the last of the flowers, also at the park. devin started it and I'm a rebel so rather than say no, i joined in.

how can you say no to a face this cute??

good things

lookie what I can do! I've been practicing awhile with some pretty lame attemps.

Normally I braid the tail too, but meh... it's friday :)

Other big news:

Big boy bed!

He's been in there almost a month now.

and get this!: he hasn't climbed down once without us being in there!

when he doesn't want to go to bed, he whines, but stays put.

when he wakes up and wants to come down, he calls for us.

how sweet is that!?

HAPPY FRIDAY!
It feels like forever since I've knit, so I will probably be doing that (of course) this weekend while rob is working 12-hour days harvesting sugar beets.

{TUSAL} September

I know you've all been waiting for this month's TUSAL report... right?
Well here you go...

getting pretty full :)

Also, what I've been working on... finished stuff:

all-day beret - pattern by debbie stoller

730 am pre-make-up bathroom shots. sorry, it just finished drying this morning and is going in the mail today, so i was rushing.
plus a request for  'a hat to match his coat - it's red with gray, so maybe like black' from my sister. Well, i made it black, black is hard to photograph, and probably wear on your head, so i might end up re-making in dark gray. Just a simple 2x3 rib....

it'll do....

that is all - lunchtime - happy wednesday!

WIP Wednesday

Well this week is a bit colorful!

Lets go from bad to good.

Bad:

Bella's Mittens **

  

Ok, so I'm not really being fair in calling this bad. They are cute:

Even stretched over my man hands...

I have followed the pattern exactly, except for one thing. The yarn.

I thought I had it right, but I actually used thinner yarn than this pattern says.

(sport rather than chunky)

It's still OK in my book, even if they have to stretch more than the example to fit.

I'm going to have to go back and add a little more length to the fingers and give it a thumb. No biggie.

Oh ya, and then make the other mitten. heh.

sock one. of my first pair of socks.

socks are not fun to knit.

i don't really care what anybody says about them being quick or portable or anything!

the stitches are so tiny that they are not quick - at least not to me, and I've definitely picked up knitting speed.

(which reminds me, next on my list of techniques to learn is magic loop)

but i really really want to have my own pair of handknit socks and I'm so close that I'm just gonna suck it up and finish these eventually.

 believe it or not, this sock does fit on my foot (other than lengthwise because, uhhh it's not done yet) which is amazing because it looks so tiny my mother-in-law was convinced I was making socks for Devin when she saw this come out of my bag.

they are really really stretchy and i'm still not sure i'm sold on the color mumble-jumble created by the pattern and yarn. what-ever. could be worse I suppose.

and finally, what I consider my most successful WIP right now.

It's actually done now, the all day beret.

photo from ravelry.com

I tried a new yarn on this one - the one recommended on the pattern, duh.

(down to the color.. hehe)

Bamboo Ewe - 55% viscose from bamboo, 45% wool.

I really liked it because it's so smooth, even, soft, and slightly shiny!

I think I am developing an addicton to knitting hats, they work up quick, cute and useful!

**my dad calls me Bella - awww.



Fall TV

So, you know I'm sorta obsessed with TV right?
Well I have a big problem. My antenna (ya....) won't pick up NBC right now.
NBC is my favorite network. I'm just crossing my fingers it will start working soon... maybe some snow will help? I have no idea, we got new upstairs neighbors and once they moved in our NBC stopped working. Freaking digital tv. I hate it.

But anyways, last night was new:
How I Met Your Mother - Good! I'll be watching, there's usually not much else I want to watch on Mondays.
Two and a Half Men - ya... i'm sure I'll be watching this too. Not sure about it having Ashton K. but I didn't not like it. The season premiere should have been an hour long in my opinion.
New show: Two broke Girls: seems funny. I hope it stays funny & stays on the air..

So sad I won't be watching Biggest Loser tonight unless a digital tv miracle occurs. Regardless, there's another new show I want to watch tonight anyway. Girl crush is right... I so said that to Rob last night when the commercial came on! Though, sad but true, I originally thought Z. was Katy Perry and I hate her, so I wasn't going to watch.... ooops!

What are you watching this fall?

the cure.

Everyone! Get excited!
I found the cure for the icks that I had!

Baking, my old favorite, came through this time.
Last week, I found this recipe and finally got around to making it last night.

I don't even have words for how good they are.

I individually wrapped some for the freezer so I don't have to make them again right away.

They were really easy to make, the only thing is, I thought for sure I had mixed up some cookie dough but I plopped it in the muffin tin anyway, and they came out perrrfect!

Also, I'm feeling alot better today except for the ear thing. maybe by monday.
have a good weekend everybody. enjoy the muffins!
Also, fall is coming! Hooray for more pumpkin goodies!

september15

so this week following last weekends wedding excitement has been a very blah week.
{which explains the fact that i can't title my blog post today}
I'm sick. waaaah. maybe an ear infection or fluid from a cold, idk. it feels gross.

I brought our dirties to my parents over the weekend and one whole basket of clean laundry is still sitting in my truck. seriously. it's Thursday. uhm yea.

but anyways, back to the wedding stuff. my cousin Emily got married this weekend.

9-10-11 - cool wedding date, eh?

Devin was the ring-bearer. he actually handled his responsibilities (other than the whole pillow thing) pretty well.

He also stayed up way past his bedtime dancing and harassing flirting with the flower girls. I actually saw him hugging them several times throughout the night. and it was adorable.

It was also my {favorite} brother's 21st birthday that night. I actually only have just the one brother - he's the 2nd youngest in our fam. I'm the oldest. When he was a baby me and my sister constantly fought over who he likes better. I'm sure it was me.

time for more tylenol cold. talk later.

PS. cute, right? i so want to make some, but I put my coffee in insulated thermos-type mugs. i think i'll make one for emergency gas station coffee stops, to keep in my car anyways.

funny baby

Guess what!

Chicken butt! HAHAH!

remember that old joke?

Found this one at 'snappy stop' in Rochester.

Yummy little burger stand.

When I say little, I mean little.

I cut off the top a little, but I think it's taller than it is wide on any side.

____________

Have you ever heard a two year old saying 'come to daddy'?
It is so super hilarious! Probably - you had to be there.

Mine has been pretty funny lately. Last night we went to check on him in bed {big boy bed, that's right!} right before we went to sleep and he was covering his ears and it looked like he was awake, hearing something loud, but he was fast asleep and really clutching. I couldn't stop laughing.

Now everytime we go somewhere, he has it figured out where we are going, who will be there, etc. Usually, it's more like 'we're not going to jenny's (daycare)' or 'we're not going to black store (grocery)'. After he tells me 100 places we're not going, then he says where we've already decided we *are* going. Also, lately he told me he wanted to go to the hobby store. He's so well trained. LOL

____________

I was thinking the other day that we've spent probably more of our summer on the roads in Minnesota than in our own place/at work this year. I'm ready to quit driving all around Minnesota (especially in construction season, seriously!). We had multiple trips to Rochester, twice to the lakes, and a few other events/visits that I can't think of.

I hate to say this, but another thing I'm ready to be done with... weddings. Even with each of them not being my own they cost so much money!! Gifts, clothes to wear {in the case of most of the weddings I've been to, a bridesmaid dress}, gas & travel money {hotel}, etc. In the end, the party {ahem, dance} is usually fun but everything before that stresses me out. As you can probably tell by my un-married status: I am just not a fan of weddings.

While I am complaining/ranting (which I hate to do on my blog, so lets get it over with), I am so so so tired of the song 'if i die young'. it was/is a good song, i appreciate the tune, the words, all of it. but if i hear it again in the next 20 minutes (which is highly likely, even while *not* listening to the radio... why!) i'll be needing a drink. it is just so depressing - sort of like working at a life insurance office... oh, wait....

____________


Our last trip to rochester was last week, and rob's mom bought me a new pair of clearance sandals (yay!) (from target, check it out if you haven't yet!) and yarn (double yay!) on our trip. Everything went well and my new yarn took me all of 24 hours to knit up. The pattern I used had been in my Rav queue since June 2010. So hooray for that!

pre-blocking. not that i'm expecting much to change...



{TUSAL} August

shadows.

I think this is the exact same as last month.

basically this month, i've started & frogged.

and re-started.