Just another day at the farm.

Pi's school put on a play yesterday called The American Farmer. It was written by one of the fourth grade teachers and details the importance of American farmers. The play was really well written and executed beautifully by the fourth graders. All 76 of them got a part, including my little NY apple farmer.




Ten minutes before leaving for school, I thought it would be cute if Pi had something apple related in her hair. Some felt, glue gun, and an alligator clip and I came up with this. I've got a box of 100 of those clips that I'd bought years ago, when I thought I had the patience to straighten my own hair (didn't happen, ha!).



Pi looked at me as if I'd lost my mind when I showed it to her, but she humored me and wore it to the play.





Not one to waste an entire day off from work (ha, who am I kidding? I love a good wasted day), I made a go at baking homemade bread for the first time. I tried this Honey Wheat bread recipe.




It wasn't perfect but not bad for my first loaf of bread. I realized that I undercooked it. It should have been a lot more golden on the outside and the inside was slightly doughy. Also, next time, I think I'll add more honey. Its definitely edible though. Two of Pi's friends were over for dinner last night and one of the little girls happily ate 3 slices. I can't wait to try another loaf soon.



Oh, just one more thing...kneading bread is a @&^$*%@$%!!

Keep Swimming II

I'm going to babble about my girly health. That might be TMI for some of you, so I thought a warning would be fair. No hard feelings if you skip right down to the cookie picture.

Back in 2008, I wrote a post about my woes with gyn issues. Even after a second opinion and numerous tests, I was deemed "normal" and sent on my way. Things were improving a little towards the latter half of 2009, but my never-ending period has started up again. This month was 14 days, super heavy, and painful...making me miserable and mood swingy.

This past week has been filled with more exams, blood work, and sonograms. Again, everything came back "normal." The only solution the doc can offer is birth control, which I refuse to take. This issue has stretched on for the last four years and there doesn't seem to be a cause that anyone can figure out. The thought of dealing with 2-3 week periods for who knows how many more years has me feeling pretty down.

I'm also anemic because of all the blood loss, which makes me super fatigued. Needless to say, not a whole lot of crafting has gone on. I've been doing a little here and there, but mostly have crafty ADD right now. I've got one big secret project on the hook, for a good friend who is expecting a baby soon, but its slow going.

I haven't been exercising for the last 2 weeks either, making Week 3 a 1.5 pound gain. Exercise will help, I know, so I plan on getting back to it this weekend.

So if things are a little slow for a while, just know its because I'm tired and stressed out.

Anyway, onto some fun stuff. This past Monday, Pi's school hosted a bake sale. Piper and I made 5 dozen M&M cookies to bring in. All I did differently was to add a bag of chocolate chips in the dough. They were so good! I couldn't figure out how to keep the M&M candy shells from cracking though. The recipe is definitely a keeper.



One of the expert doctors I work with was nice enough to buy my co-workers and I a fruit of the month club gift for 2010. In today's mail was a box full of Honeybell oranges. I've never tried them, but have heard they're pretty juicy.



Apparently, saying that they're juicy is an understatement, because the fruit company thought it was necessary to send bibs and an instructional booklet on how to eat the oranges. Talk about high maintenance fruit!



We're going to dig into them now....yum!

A quickie.

Things are crazy busy, so just some drive-by blogging today.

Another Ifeoma scarf made for a co-worker, by request. Its 6 inches wide and 60 inches long. Super warm and comfy.



This is homespun with a wool roving held together. It was the color combo my co-worker wanted. Since the bulk of the two yarns was so big, I used an M hook to make the stitches feel less stiff than they would have with a smaller hook. It made this a ridiculously quick project.

Forgive me if I'm quiet the next few days. Just have to get through a deadline at work and then I'll be back to normal.

Calorimetry Take 2

You're going to be bored silly, so I'll make it quick. No need to prolong your torture.

My mom's birthday was earlier this month and I'd asked her what she wanted as a gift. She had seen my calorimetry in late December when I went to pick Pi up from her place and said that was what she wanted as a gift. Well, that and 4 dozen pecan tassies* haha.



I said you'd be bored silly, because its not even a different color. She wanted it in gray, just like mine.



The black button was recycled from an old sweater that I got rid of awhile ago.



In other news, I lost 3.1 pounds this week (2) for a total loss of 6.1 pounds. I still hate exercising. Nothing's changed on that front.

Do you all have today off? I don't... my firm doesn't consider this a holiday. Boo! I'm also taking Pi to the dentist this afternoon. I'm praying the dramatics are kept to a minimum.

*No pics of the tassies. They were made quickly and rushed to Brooklyn before they could have a photo shoot.

Word Verification

Hey guys, I had to put the word verification back on the comments section. Over the last few days I've been slammed with spamming on my pattern posts. I've gone through and deleted some of them and will do it a little at a time until its all gone.

Until it slows down or stops, I'll have to leave the word verification on. Sorry to anyone who hates it!

Meet the Bobs and Sir Alexander

I had the good fortune to be invited to a knit get-together at Knit a Bit today. I got to meet Karen, Bezzie, and two of their knitting buddies, Chris and Jen.

I brought a few little turtles with me to give to the girls. Turtles represent endurance, strength and patience and I hope everyone's 2010 is full of all three!


Turtles striking a pose.

Jen decided we should name them. After some thought and a story about a children's book, we all agreed four would be Bob and one would be Sir Alexander, just like in the book.


The Bobs and Sir Alexander say goodbye.

The turtles marched bravely into my purse to meet their new owners.



Thanks for inviting me ladies! I had so much fun gabbing and repeatedly ripping out my sock. :)

Pattern: Tiny Striped Turtles

Angel Wings Shawl

Another FO for 2010, though saying that feels like cheating a little since I started it in 2009. It went pretty fast until it got too big to haul on the bus, then it languished on the hook a smidge longer than it should have. I took advantage of the quiet vacation time to finally finish it.

This is the Angel Wings Shawl. Isn't it pretty? The pattern is much simpler and easy to memorize than the Seraphina Shawl, but just as pretty.



Its made with Joanns Rainbow Boucle (not even an entire skein), and a K hook. I was tempted to keep this one but I already have a blue shawl and didn't think I needed another one. So, I mailed it as a surprise to my Aunt Aida.

In other news, I completed week 1 of trying to east healthier and exercise a little. I've lost 3 pounds so far.

(Laura, I've got way more than 21 pounds to lose, probably more around the 50 mark. 21 is just how much I'd lost last year. If only it was that little, LOL).

Stay warm peeps....its freezing like a mother out there! I'm going back to bed. Yay for Saturdays!

Brain Fart

One of you guys was nice enough to point out that I forgot to link to the hat pattern. HERE it is. I'll also edit the original post, so its in there as well. My apologies and thanks for letting me know.

Also, Bridget, I go to knittinghelp for knitting videos. Its where I've learned everything that I've tried so far. I'd be lost without it!

Oh, and guess what I learned to do?



Need another hint?



Cables!!! Wooooooooooooooooooo!!!



I used THIS pattern from Craftster. Super easy and way more fun than DPNs. I daresay I like cables (or at least this very simple one, haha).

Want to see what's on my coffee mug, which was a gift from my precious spawn?



Yep, that's her mug on my mug! Childhood narcissism dies hard, but I love this mug. Best gift ever!

I also want to say Happy 47th Birthday Mom! Love you!!

2010's FO #1

Not only do I have a finished object before week 1 of 2010 is over, but I learned some new skills in the process. I learned how to knit in the round, decrease, and use DPNs. I feel like I've achieved a gold medal in the knitting Olympics.

(Its my own personal Olympics, no competitors and no standards, so this is clearly why I won the gold).


Heddy, the mannequin basking in the morning sun.

Granted, my decreases were a smidge off, making the pattern get all funky on top (nothing a giant pom pom can't cover) and using the DPNs was not particularly pleasant.

I'm generally a clumsy person and have mostly learned to become one with my clumsy nature, but the DPNs made me feel clumsier than usual. I guess its just a matter of practice, practice, practice. I'm hoping DPNs will fare better than my flute with this theory.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do with this hat at first, since it was made strictly to practice. The millisecond I'd finished weaving in the last strand, Pi ran down the steps, grabbed the hat and tried it on. When she saw it was a perfect fit, she declared that none of her hats fit right, so she needed to keep this one. Problem solved.

In other news, I've also won the Overeating During the Holidays gold medal. The difference with this Olympics is that there were other competitors and I beat them all by a mile!

We've been cooking (and eating) and baking (and eating) like mad people since my birthday. I tried to get into my jeans last week and when they got stuck around my hips, I put them away and found comfort in a pair of yoga pants. All week, I should add. I wore them and washed them, over and over and over.

I'm going to publicly own up to this now, sucky as it is. Remember how I lost 21 pounds in early 2009? I weighed myself and have gained back 18 of those 21 pounds! Ten of those pounds have been since November.

@(%^&#$@!

So, I'm going to start the new year off correctly. I'm going to try to eat smaller portions and avoid baking for awhile. Pi also got the EA Sports fitness game for the Wii, so we're going to try that as a family.

My goal is a simple one: look and feel better on my 30th birthday than I did on my 29th. Lets hope I can do it!