Happy New Year!

One of my goals for 2008 is to be more organized! My parents came up yesterday to help me with that. We got my front closet nice and tidy. We pulled my old vacuum out of it and I was going to donate it when Mom said that my brother is moving to his own apartment and needs a vacuum. I'm excited that I can give it a good home!
We also took a look at my stash of yarn.... Mom didn't like that part. I had no idea that my mom use to knit. As we were pulling out patterns to organize them she started saying things like "oh, I did that sweater, it was a fun one to make." or "I loved this pattern! It was so cute!" I asked her why she doesn't knit or sew (mom is amazing at sewing!!!! I'm not so good) anymore. She said she didn't know why she stopped. I would love to learn to sew from her. She use to make us Halloween costumes, clothes, and all kinds of things.
So, I got a great start on my organization goal for 2008. I'm not there yet, but given time I think I can get it under control (I hope!).
Happy New Year!!!!!!

Tuxes and Electric Guitars?

On Friday night my best friend calls me up and says that she is coming up because her sister got her tickets to see the Tran-Siberian Orchestra. She had an extra ticket if I wanted to go. Sure, why not?
Last night I met up with my friend, her sister, and her brother. Her sister works at a radio station and was announcing that for each ticket purchased a dollar was donated to the children's hospital. We went back stage with her, but when we were told that we couldn't see her present, we went to our seats to watch the show like everyone else.
It was a good time. The TSO is not like a normal orchestra. They have crazy lighting, fire, and even some fireworks! It was cool. The first half of the show was a Christmas story and then second half was their most popular songs.
These guys are in AMAZING shape! They would run full out across the stage to play and then run across it the other way to play again. Even the singers were doing that, but they were singing while they were running! It was awesome!
We admit that we were all a little blinded by the end as the lights kept flashing up into the higher seats where we were. Yet, all in all it was a great time (well, it helped that it was all free!).

Knitting Train Wreck

Ahh, the lovely knit on border that is causing me so much grief. I went back to the shop for some more help from the nice young lady who walked me thought what to do yesterday. However, the nice young lady was not there. On Saturday the shop holds a knitting clinic for those in need of help. "Great! Lots of people to help me!" I thought.
I was wrong.
The lady who was in charge of helping was expecting only new knitters and easy problems to come in. Her response to my question and problem was "Oh, you're a real knitter." WHAT?? Her help was to tell me I just need to rip it out and start over since this was WAY beyond what she knew how to do. Then she said that the nice young girl does things that she's never seen before. I did pull out all my work, and I sat there and re-knit back to where I was. However, this time I had to start it on my own and get going by myself because the "Help Lady" had no idea even after reading though my pattern.
All in all, it was worth the stress of learning it yesterday because today I was able to get started and knit it with out help. I think I'll be OK now and I will be ready to join in the KAL for the Victorian Lace Today book! I have my yarn and my needles. Get ready, I smell a train wreck of yarn coming! ^_^

Knitting Crazed

I was so excited last night when I found out that I got into Ravelry! I put up some of my projects and one of them was my pink lace shawl that I started in September! HA HA... I put it down due to the fact that I wasn't able to get the knit on border to go. Posting it last night pushed me to say I do want to finish that project and I SHOULD learn knit on borders. I swallowed my pride and went to the knitting shop today.
Amazingly, I am getting it. The nice lady explained why I was having such problems before and now it is coming along.... well, so I thought. I wanted to take a stitch out to fix something and now it's looking like the whole thing might come apart AGAIN! Stupid shawl....
I tried to fix it, but it looks like I might be making a trip back to the knitting shop for some more help. It's so hard to admit that I need help. This project is GOING to get finished! I will learn to do knit on borders and I want to complete it!
I think I wait until tomorrow before I go back (I was just there 10 minutes ago!). I'm going out to lunch with a friend in a little while so at least I'll be out of the house and away from the shawl of doom!

Post-Chrsitmas Fun

I had a wonderful Christmas with my family. Christmas eve my brother and his girlfriend came to my parents house for dinner. After dinner my family, my husband, and brother's girlfriend played a few hours worth of Beyond Balderdash. It's a great game that sounds really stupid when it's explained. However, it is side splitting funny! Brother and Girlfriend are both stand-up comedians (I can't make this stuff up!), so dinner was fun and game night with them is always hysterical! We exchanged gifts with Girlfriend and due to weather and lateness, she spent the night with us all.
Christmas morning my mom made a ham and egg casserole for breakfast. Girlfriend stayed thought opening of gifts ("the greed" as my dad calls it), and then went on her merry way to have Christmas with her family later that day. Husband and I exchanged gifts that morning with my family too. Then we headed over to Husband's family's for another gift exchange. He did not like the panda webkinz that I got him, so he re-gift it to me (ha ha, he has no idea what he passed up!). His family always hosts Christmas dinner with my family and his cousins. I got really sick and went home Christmas night with my family.
The day after Christmas mom and I traditionally go shopping. We did, but not as early as usually due to the fact that I was still not feeling well. We did get some great buys!
Last night Husband calls me to say he can't find his key ring (it has all his keys; house, car, work, etc.). He had house key so he had a friend drive him home last night. I came back home today and now we will go get his car and try to find his lost keys. He knows he lost them at work, so we are hoping that they turn up soon!!

VACATION!!!!!

I MADE IT!!!! All the sugar covered little kids wanted to hug me good-bye at the end of the day. It was a great day. Teaching was NOT happening... partying was! As one sage teacher put it "today is about containing the troops". How right she was!
I did get a few gifts from some of the kids. I did a present exchange with a few teachers. One of them got me my own WEBKINZ!!!! HA HA kiddos!!! If you don't know webkniz they are a stuff animal that the kids buy that have an access code to the website. Kids go on here and take care of their new pet. They feed them, play with them and earn money to buy them cool things. It's a virtual pet that you never have to walk or clean up after! My co-worker got me the white bunny! I registered him last night and was playing with it before I went out with some teachers from a school I worked at 2 years ago. They laughed at me and my telling them about webkinz, but they also understood. I like to keep up with what the kids are into so I know what the trends are (past 5th grade, I have no ideas about trends!).
Today my plan is to clean up my house (it looks like a bomb went off), and then mail out the Christmas gifts that need mailing!!! I also have a purse that I need to think about making since I was also asked to do that! So much to do today! After all that, I plan to drive home to my parents house to spend some relaxing time with them.
I wish you all a happy holiday and a wonderful New Year! Love, Rabbit

Holidays are coming!!

I have been so busy this past few weeks! I'm a little slow this year getting my Christmas gifts sent out this year (T- sorry it's going to be really late!!). I did write a few of my Christmas cards the other day, but I haven't sent them yet (I'm out of stamps!!!). I'm such a slacker this year! AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.... only a few more days of school and then I can get some stuff done!

$1 Bin Fun

So after my manic $1 bin splurge, I had to knit SOMETHING with my cheap purchase. I whipped up two scarfs yesterday from my $1 stash. I also knit another scarf today, but that was with other yarn and was ordered by a teacher at school.
In my $1 bin buys, I got a few skeins of mohair. I really wanted to do something cool with it. I got 5 black and silver ones, and 7 coal colored ones. I looked at some free patterns and found a sweater that used 4 skeins of the two colors. I also needed some ribbon yarn, but that was easy enough to get. Here is the back and the start of the front:
It's not much to look at right now, but I hope it will be cool when I finish it! This is my first pull over sweater. My short cardigan came out so well that I feel like I could tackle a pull over. The pattern said it was "easy". HA HA... so far it is.... I read thought it and some of the directions for the neckline are a little confusing. I'll do the best I can and if I have to rip it out to fix it, then that's what I'll do. My goal is to get the front up to where the shoulder shaping starts tonight.
Today, I also went to ravelry to try and get an account. It looks like I'll be waiting a while.... 7558 people were ahead of me waiting to get on. There were only 3 people behind me. I read about this site on Ysolda's blog. She's from the UK and she is an AMAZING knitter! I love seeing her knitted goods. I hope someday that I can be that creative with my knitting too!

Wedding Day

Yesterday we went to a wedding. It was a nice day for a wedding. The church was so pretty. It was this beautiful old stone with amazing stain glass windows. The pews were old old wood and the organ that played was wonderful to listen to. The theme of their wedding was snow flakes. The runner that the bride walked on had snow flakes on it and she had snowflake earring and scattered in her hair. The wedding party was dressed in a light blue. The ceremony was very nice. Both hubby and I however thought that the pastor was a little condescending. Other than that, it was nicely done. Since the bride is a member of that church, the church ladies put on a punch and cookie reception right after. It was very yummy.
We had a good three hours before the real reception started. Hubby and I came home. I knit up a scarf for my brother's girlfriend as a Christmas gift. Hubby helped me wrap up the wedding gift and off we went for dinner. The dinner was so great! It was buffet style and we sat at the last table to be served. Oh well. It was still good and we had a great time. Our table mates were friendly and easy to talk to so it was comfortable for all.
The bride had really nice favors of little ornaments that were tea light holders. They were all blue with snowflakes on them and a big ribbon that said the date and their names.
I love weddings. They are such a happy event. They looked great and lucky ducks are taking a honeymoon to Jamaica! Lucky!

My 29th Birthday!

Today is my birthday! I had a great day at school. Every class sang to me (not always my kids... other teachers got their classes to sing to me!). One teacher gave me a crown that said "It's my birthday"on it. I wore it with pride all day! I share my birthday with one of the students and so we had a joint party during her class.
I got a lot of nice cards and a few gifts from friends. It was a great day at school!
When I got home I found that my chain maille bracelet kit had come!! I started it, but I didn't get very far before my parents came to take me out to dinner. It was really nice for them to come and take me out. I had a yummy dinner with them and after they came to my house (good thing I picked it up a bit). My dad baked me a cake and we had a piece when we got home. They stayed for a bit and my mom and I made plans for her to come back and help me get organized. They just left a little bit ago. Tomorrow night they are driving down to Erie, P.A. to see my brother preform his stand up routine. Hubby and I are going to a wedding tomorrow. It should be a good time for all!

$1 Bin

So tonight we went out to the craft store so that I could finish a bracelet that I started a while ago, but didn't have all the parts to end it. While we were wandering around the store we found that the yarn aisle had a $1 AISLE!!!! Oh my goodness!!!

I went a little nuts:

I also got the last parts to finish my bracelet. We also stopped at another store and got my brother's Christmas present.

My Boycott

I'm sick of T.V., so starting today I will boycott it. I have other things to do and I don't really want to watch anything anymore. I think I just have it on most night for noise in the house. I'm more interested in reading a book than watching T.V. I'm also getting more knitting orders for Christmas, so I have to get them done and watching T.V. is an avoidance move. I will focus on my books and my crafts for now.

Snowing and Cold!

Ahh, the first snow storm. All the teachers were mad today since most of them thought that it would be a snow day today. No such luck. Oh well.

Here is the finished skull bag and then the purple felted bag that my Nana and I knit together.

Hurry Up and Knit

This morning, I'm all set for my school day except for my knitting. I had a few orders for hats and with my obsessing over the skull bag only one hat was actually completed! I did start it last night and if I hurry it up today I can get it done by tonight.... however, the order called for a matching scarf. I guess that's tomorrow's knitting project. I still have to worry about knitting up my mom's Christmas gift too. I'll see if I can get some of that hat done this morning before I leave for school. It's weird to feel pressure to knit stuff up. I'll try to get it all done asap!

Of Snowing and Skulls

Ah, this morning I got up so much later than I normally do on a Sunday (normally, I get up by 8 a.m., today was 9:45 a.m.! It's late for me!). I had good reason to stay in bed... this is what I saw when I looked out of my window:And this is my back yard:Last night they were saying that we would have a snow storm. We didn't get that much, but the wind was whipping around and that was a little unnerving. I don't like high winds because of the damage that they can cause.

Hubby and I went out last night before all this hoopla to get his friend a wedding gift. We went to two different stores since the wedding is next week, most people already got gifts. So, needless to say their registry was a little picked over. Oh well, we got them a few things that they wanted. We also got ourselves some new sheets; flannel and tee-shirt sheets! Here are the cute tee-shirt sheets that I picked out (poor hubby has to deal with cute little colorful snowflakes!):

Friday night, I knit a LOT of my skull tote bag. Here's what it looked like yesterday morning: The skull pattern is on both sides. I finished the skull part and am now starting the bottom of the bag. I hope to finish today so I can felt it tonight. I also have to finish the hat for a lady at school. Here's how my skull bag looks right now:

I got our Christmas tree up last weekend and yesterday I trimmed it. Today I have to get out my nutcrackers and get them put up. I love this time of year!

Great Birthday Gift!

My birthday is next week, but my hubby's is in January. We sometimes get gifts that will then celebrate both our birthdays at once. This year he found a great thing... Rascal Flatt tickets!
I got up this morning to battle it out and secure tickets for us to go. The concert isn't until January, but it's our birthday gifts to each other! I'm so excited! What a great gift!!!!

Knitting Crazy!

Over Thanksgiving, my Nana and I worked on a felted bag together. We knit it together so it's quiet special to me. Here it is before it was felted:

We made it with my hand dyed yarn. I haven't taken a picture of it now that it's been felted. I'm really happy with how well it came out.
At school I was asked to knit another two hats and one scarf. I have a bit of knitting to do this weekend. However, last night I started another felted bag. Here's the start of it: I know that the photo is dark, sorry about that. However, can you see the skull chart on the pattern? The main part of the bag is black, but the skull part will be red. I think it will look great when it's done. I'm really into this knitting, but I have to put it down to knit the orders that I have at school.

I also ordered the second beginner kit of chain maille from Urban Maille. I got it with some early birthday money that I got. I'm excited to have that come!

Too many crafts, too little time!

SOLD!

I took some of my wacky little scarfs to school the other day to sell for the holiday season. I also took in a knit bag, and a fuzzy little hat. I was so excited when a teacher today told me that she took the hat and stopped by later with the money for it. Then another teacher asked me to make the same hat and a scarf to match for her daughter for Christmas! I was so excited! It felt really good that people wanted to buy my hand made stuff to give someone as a gift this season. I was going to knit up a little felted bag for a friend tonight (no, I won't finish it tonight, only start it!). It was a great day!

Fun Thanksgiving!

I had a great Thanksgiving! I got to see my grandmother and hang out with my family!! I had too much wine and too much to eat. We had about 4 different pies for dessert and way too much food for dinner! It was a great time for all. Again, the young team for Trivial Pursuit lost AGAIN to the Old people team. We lose every year! This year we were in the lead thanks to my brother's girlfriend! She knows her stuff and we want her to come back for game time next year! We also played a round of Balderdash. Good times there!
My mom hosted all of us, so there were 9 of us for dinner and 10 for desserts. It's one of my favorite holidays!
Black Friday Mom, Nana and I got a bit of shopping done. My mom is almost done with her Christmas shopping, but I have a bit more to do! I'll get it done soon!

Last Day of School!

Today is our last day of school before five days of relaxing and hanging out with family! I can't wait! Tomorrow my grandmother comes and I am so excited to see her! Also, my brother and his girlfriend will come over too. I love this holiday since I can see my family and eat a great meal with them.
Today after school I can go pick up my beads. I hope that there were no more power outs so I can actually get them this time! It's not too far away from my house so I don't mind the short dive over there.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

No Beads Yet

I stopped by the bead shop on my way home from school to find that the owner said I have to wait until tomorrow to get my beads! WHAT?? We were told yesterday that we could get them today.
When she came into the shop today all the power was out. So the kiln has backup power and when that happens it resets itself. If the glass cools to fast it would crack and be weak. Since it had reset, it was just starting to cool now. I will be able to get them tomorrow. Oh well, I am so excited to get them!
Tomorrow is our last day of school for the week and then Thanksgiving on Thursday! My grandmother comes on Wednesday and I can't wait to see her! It will be nice to have her here for Thanksgiving. I don't know the last time that she was here in the cold weather with us, so will be a fun time for her!

Bead Maker

Today was my flame work class! I was so excited! My husband guessed that we would get a lecture on how to make the beads and then only have time to make one or two beads. I was told by the shop owner to dress warm and get there early. The class is limited to 6 people since they only have torches for 6 students and one for the instructor.
I got there early... I was the only one there for our class. There was also a chain maille class at the same time, but only one girl had shown up early for that one too. About 10 minutes before my class, the other folks showed up! It was a good thing I was dressed warm. The glass studio part is very cold!!! Our instructor lectured us for only about 10 minutes, gave a quick 5 minute demo and then the rest of the hour and 45 minutes were ours to play with. I think I made 5 or 6 beads! It was so awesome!!! We learned how to make very simple beads on a mandle. It's a metal stick that you wind hot glass around and then shape. I mixed colors, I added dots, I had a chemical reaction in one bead (the colors I used turn other colors!) and I just had a good time playing with the glass. Two of the ladies in my class needed so much attention from the teacher and did not want to try on their own. The lady sitting next to me was in her own little world. The other two people in the class were a husband and wife team. The husband was so into it and his beads were amazing! The wife was mad that her beads were not as nice and not bead shaped as his. Mine look like beads, but the colors that I used were kind of weird. I think they will come out cool, but I couldn't tell as all of them looked like a yellow orange glowing blob while I was making them!
Tomorrow after school I can go and get my beads. I would defiantly like to take that class again (they told us a second time in the beginner class and then intermediate is a good way to go). I have also looked over some of their other classes and I think they would be good to take sometime too!

Dilemma

I'm sitting here thinking that I should pack up my stuff and head over to the guild meeting, however, my house looks like a bomb went off and I am actually considering cleaning it up... huh? I'm not sure what possessed me to feel that way, but I'm tempted. What a dilemma.
I should go to the meeting since I am in need of some serious help on my pink lacy shawl. I can't get that border to go and I need some help. It's not something I want to admit to since I'm quite proud of how well I did on the body of it. It would also be good to chat with other spinners and find out what's new in the month that has passed since I saw them last! I'm not exactly excited about going outside today and I think that's the big problem. It snowed and now that means it's cold. If I stay in the house the space heater is my friend and if I go to guild the building is always super cold! I think I'll go anyway because I love the people there! Now I have to motivate my self to get my stuff packed up! Ever have one of those lazy days?

Taking Hobbies to the Extreme

Ahh, hobbies. How I love them. How I love to take them to the next level. From knitting, I went to spinning. Now, spinning is turning into dying. How funny, that my new skill of jewelry making now needs to be extreme.
I started playing with some copper wire last night to make a bracelet. I found this cool pattern in my new Bead and Button magazine. I made the bracelet, and then I was playing with my scraps and created my own pattern for a bracelet. I had so much fun that I wanted to find a jewelry making class since everything I've done up til now is all self taught. After a search of our city for bead store, I found a studio that teaches people to make glass beads. HOW COOL IS THAT?? I called and they had one spot left, so I took it! On Sunday I'll have a day of making glass beads and then on Monday I can pick them up and make my own thing with them!!! I am so excited about this. They also offered classes in chain maille and other jewelry making stuff. I just love taking things to the extreme!
I can't wait to learn new things and I think this is a great thing for me to try! I don't know that hubby will be to excited about me working with the torch to make the beads. but it should be a good time!

Weird Story

I have never been asked to be a reference for anyone before. It would be very flattering if I had know that my name and number had been given out by a friend of mine. I was very surprised the other night when I got phone call from someone I had never spoken to but they seemed to know who I was. I was a little freaked out at first since I thought it might have been a scam.
This man was calling in reference to see what kind of person my friend was and if he was a nice person who would be suitable for dating his daughter. WHAT? This was something new for me. After talking to this father for a while, I figured out that it was real and he really wanted to know about my friend. I told him he's an A+ and should be given a chance. The father apologized to me since he had never met me and was just looking out for his little girl. After I told my hubby be glad that my dad didn't do that! If he had thought of it he might have!
I called my friend after this odd phone call to see what was going on. He said he was sorry and that he should have told me. He was waiting for a call from the dad to see if he could go on his date. The odd part is that they have never met face to face! He couldn't even met her without dad's approval. I hope that my phone call allowed him to have a date with this girl and I hope that they really liked each other so they can go out again.... I don't want the dad calling me and saying that I was a bad reference!!! Weird huh?

Sad Nesquick

Poor Nes, he is so unhappy since my cousin left! She thought he was the cutest of our rabbits since she said he "had personality!" They had bonded and she fed him extra treats... look at this sad face:He's being kind of pathetic about it since I won't give him extra treats... he doesn't need a sugar high to make him feel better!

Spun Up

Here is the first bobbin of the blue yarn: I finally got a picture of it. I spent time Saturday morning before my cousin woke up by spinning some of the blue yarn. It's coming along great and I still need to finish it so I can start to knit it. I need some help on the pink shawl that I was working on. My boarder is not going well. I think I need to rip it out and then take it over to the yarn shop for help.

Cousin's Visit

What a great time we had having my cousin here! My cousin is more like a little sister than a cousin. I don't have any sisters, but if I did she would be it! We just laughed all weekend long.
After getting her a winter coat, she need to "accessorize" her winter look. We went out yesterday to find her some cute scarfs and hats. She found these cute fingerless gloves, and two scarfs. I also taught her to knit, but she couldn't take the needles on the plane with her so I'll finish it for her and mail it to her.
Last night my brother came to town with his girlfriend to do a stand-up show here. We were in luck and got to go see him preform. My cousin has never seen his show so that was cool that she could see it. She also took a few head shots for him and his girlfriend too. My husband even got out of work so he could go with us. It was a great evening and I had so much fun seeing my brother and my cousin! It's always nice to get together with family.
I think we have her convinced that our town is were she should go to grad school. I even took her to our beach to help convince her that this is the perfect place for her.
It was a fun weekend and now I have to type up my report cards since it's end of term for our kiddos too. This week will be a long one and then we have 2 days of school and it's Thanksgiving! My grandmother is coming to my house for that, and Hubby's family and mine will get together for a nice big fattening turkey dinner! I can't wait! I love this holiday.

Never Enough Butter!

My cousin came yesterday! It's been great having her here! I took her for a tour and interview at the one college here so that she could see if she was interested in going to grad school here. Being that she's from a warmer state, low 40's is FREEZING for her!
This morning we decided that we would make some apple crisp... my mantra of you can never have enough butter seems to not be true with apple crisp. YOU CAN HAVE TOO MUCH BUTTER!!! OOPS! Oh well, some of it tastes good, but some of it is drowning in butter. Too bad, that was my fault.
So far our weekend has been great! Hubby and I took my cousin shopping for a heavy winter coat. All the school she is looking at are up here in the northern tundra (as far as she is concerned!!), so having a heavy wool coat is a must! We spent about an hour looking at coats. She found one that was heavy enough and long enough by my standards (butts must be covered since sitting on cold benches can freeze one to the bone!), with a hood! We also drove around the city so she could see where she could live if she moves up here (of course, I want her to move here, since it would be nice to have family here!!)
Tomorrow we are just hanging out and shopping. YEAH for fun days, and you can have TOO much butter!

Home Sick

Yesterday, I called into school (even though it was a Sunday) to cancel my teaching for today. However, I was shocked that they could get a sub for me!!! That's great news! I thought for sure no one wants my schedule of three building in one day! However, there seems to be someone who is willing to take it on! I can't believe it!

Today, I will lie low and recover my strength. Lying low for me means knitting, reading, napping, and working on my jewelry. I saw this great necklace on display yesterday at the store. After looking at it for a long time I bought the same beads and tried to recreate it for myself. It's not exactly like the store one, but I like how it is coming out! I used a suggestion from one of of my beading magazines that said if there is wire left over use it to make a pair of earrings... so I did! If I'm really ambitious I will make a bracelet to match! Wow, a whole set! Here's how it looks... not the best pict (sorry!)

Sick

I haven't been feeling well this weekend. I went out today hearing that there was a great sale at the one shop on beads. While I was picking out beads I started to feel dizzy. Driving home was not the smartest idea, but I did get home. I've already called in sick for tomorrow. I don't think it would be good to go in while feeling dizzy. Not smart.
Also, my cousin is coming on Friday. I want to feel better for her visit!! Hopefully tomorrow's day of rest will help me feel better and get over my sickness soon!

Getting Ready!

Last night I went to a costume party for the staff of one of the building I work at. It was so awesome! This group has invited me to a few of their get togethers, and I love going out with them! They are a fun bunch of people who all have very different interests. Last night I put on one of my hip scarfs over a black skirt and a purple peasant top that I have. My gypsy costume was the easiest thing I could come up with! One girl came as a angry/drunken bride's maid... her mom suggested that she wear her wedding dress, but seeing as her wedding didn't happen, she thought the idea was cruel. I have to agree with her on that. However, she was in good spirits and was my buddy when the boys brought out a Nintendo Wii!! Oh man is that fun!!!!!!!!! I totally want one now! We had a group of us playing a bowling game on it. Also, we had a few drinks and that helped make it a little more insane!

This group loves to get together and have game nights, so games were broken out. We played Apples to Apples, Taboo, and Blurt! I've only played Taboo before. I couldn't stop laughing. It was a great night out!!!

Today, I got up and started to clean thoroughly because of my cousin coming to visit next weekend!! Since she has never been to my house I want to make it super clean and nice for her! I can't have her seeing our messiness that is everyday!!!!!! So, I'm working on it.

During my cleaning of my study upstairs I let out Nesquick and Tira. Nes is so good. He will play and be content in the area that I have blocked off for them (they use to be able to run the whole upstairs, but due to the renovation of the bathroom that's not possible right now). Tira however, is so bad! She will look for ways to escape as soon as she can. I thought I had it set so that she couldn't get out today. They were fine for a while so I went to continue my cleaning spree. I checked on them about 5 minutes later, and there she is wiggling her way out of this tiny space in the barrier! So, five minutes of chasing her around the upstairs before I could heard her back into her cage. Pain in my butt, but she's so cute! Look at that cute little naughty face:

Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween! Today has been crazy! All my little students were so excited! They can't wait to get out there and indulge in a major sugar rush! Of course, I can't wait for a major sugar rush too... I've been munching on some candy after school today. I did get to dress up today. My kiddos who don't celebrate where not in school today, so I wore a sparkly hip scarf over a black skirt and purple shirt... I told the kids I was Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It was fun and lucky, the day went fast!!! My first class so not good, but the rest of the day went well!!! Thank goodness!!!

Tonight I'll be handing out the candy. Traditionally, we haven't had a lot of kids. It should be about the same this year. That means that we have candy left over that I can eat!!! YEAH!!! Enjoy the ghoulish night!

Renovations

Today, after my Kool-aid dying, and jewelry making, I told my hubby about my good friend in Japan's wedding. I was joking with him about the date saying things like "oh, what are you doing on XX day in XX month... don't you think that'd be a good time to go to Japan?" Well, low and behold, he said "yeah, it sounds like fun" after I told him it was for a wedding! Looks like we are going to Japan... I hope she still wants us to come!

Anyway, we still are working on our bathroom project. My cousin is coming soon and we need to have a working toilet in there for her. We worked on putting up the green board around the sink a few weeks ago. Today we got some of the shower walled in. Here is the sink area looking good:

Here is the first wall of the shower after we put it in: We did a bit more, but I didn't take picts of it. We also got the light above the toilet installed. It's starting to take real shape and look more and more like a bathroom... not a prison cell!

Hand-Dying

I did it! I dyed my first yarn today!! It was awesome! Here are the skeins before I dyed them:

I thought that the pot I bought would be able to fit both skeins, but it didn't! It only fits one! Here is my too small pot:

I bought grape Kool-aid for my dye. I bought 8 packs, 4 for each skein.

Here is the first skein dying... I am so proud that I didn't make a mess while doing this!

Now both skeins are drying in the shower. I'll take picks once they have dried tomorrow. I think that I'll dye yarns again with other colors!

Hand-dyed Yarn and Knitting

Today I had the brain storm that I'll try dying my own yarn. I stopped the yarn shop on my way home from school to get some natural yarn. I read this wonderful article on KnitPicks about dying with Kool-aid. After I got the yarn I went to the second hand store to get a pot to dye the yarn in. I don't want to use my good cooking pots for that. Then I stopped at the store to get grape Kool-aid. I hope I got enough for 2 skeins of yarn. I want to dye it and then knit it and then felt it into a bag. I think this would be a cool project for me (like I need another knitting project going!).
I have started the border for the lace shawl. I did one full go around of it, and we'll see how it looks after I have a few more. I've also been working on spinning the blue yarn for my mom's Christmas scarf.
I also thought that I'd take a few knitted scarfs to school in the next few weeks to see if I could sell them. I guess I have to work on knitting them up this weekend!

Fun Day

After school today I got together with my friend who I went to the Goth club with last year. She is an amazing jewelry maker and designer. She showed me some of her stuff and I showed off my knitting. It was nice to get together with friends after school. It seems like since school started I have no time to just hang out and relax with friends. It was nice to plan on going out after school today! I had a nice time and she has the most amazing collection of Halloween stuff you have ever seen!!! It was so cool to see how her house was transformed into Halloween central! Her little girl gets scared of some of her talking decorations, but she likes all the other stuff that my friend has up.

Trying To Relax

This a.m. I got up extra early (I couldn't sleep anymore...), so I had the brainstorm of doing some wake-up yoga today. It was a 15 minute thing and it was very relaxing! It has really made a difference in my day. I felt more awake and my mood has been more relaxed today. It could have been a stress filled day, but I took a few minutes to relax and so it was not nearly so stressing.
I had to go to new teacher training today. We talk about all the issues that new teachers will have. Being that it's my third year I am getting some new ideas out of it and I'm able to share some of my ideas with people too. It's a nice group to get together with and I like learning from my collages.
Tonight Hubby is cooking since I've been out and about all day. It's so nice to have him cook! He also does laundry on occasions! How could you not love that! ^_^

Spinning Guilding and Other Stuff

Yesterday was a great guild meeting! We had an extra long show and tell since last month was our fiber festival! I haven't been to a meeting in months due to the craziness of summer! I showed off my sweater, my lace shawl (I did finish the body of it yesterday and started the border today). I also got to share that I got my lovely wheel over the summer.
My favorite things about guild meetings are the showing off of handmade things and the amount of things I learn! Yesterday I learned how to card wool. It was really cool since I got to see how wool sheared right from the sheep is processed into the roving that I use to spin.
Today has been a lazy kind of day. I spent the morning reading the end of a book and then I went out shopping for a little bit. I had a nice time. Tomorrow is going to be nuts! I have to start my new schedule of traveling to several buildings. I'm happy that I will be at building where I already know a few people. It should be crazy and fun!

A-Mazing Corn Maze

Last night a group of us from school went out together to run around in a giant corn maze. It was pitch black so we needed our flashlights, but it was a ton of fun! They give you a map that is missing. You have to collect the pieces of the map as you wander though the maze. They time stamp your map so you can see how long it takes you. There were 12 pieces to find all together, and 2 hours later, we had ten of them and left the maze. It was really cool.
The maze is a huge design challenge. This year's shape was a barn, windmill, and field picture. Every year they change what the maze looks like. In the summer they design what they want on a computer and then hire a company to come out and plant the corn so that it will go into the maze for the year. They harvest the corn and then open it for the public to go though. I had never heard of this before and it was a great time! I loved it!! I'd like to go again next year if the weather is nice. It was the perfect night. It was warm and we could see all the stars in the sky. Once you are in the maze at night there is NO lights! You need flashlights or you wander around blindly (some people were doing that....)We had dinner before hand and it was a great time!

Apples, Apples, Apples!

A lovely fridged day to be outside. My husband and I went out to breakfast this morning and then we went out to pick our annual apple supply. Normal we go on a week day, but this year we thought we'd go on a Saturday. It was so BUSY!!! We couldn't walk out to the trees this year, we had to ride on the tractor. We picked Northern Spy and bought Fujis since the trees were all picked clean. Here's the Northern Spy trees:I also got a very cute small pumpkin that I set out on my front step. Aren't they cute all lined up? Since we now have all these wonderful apples I thought I should make something yummy with them. Every year I make apple crisp, so I wanted to try something new. Today, I made my first apple pie! Here's my apple slicer/ corer:Here are the sliced apples in the pie plate:I cheated a little bit and bought the ready made crust: Here it is after baking... I'm waiting for it to cool so I can cut a slice!! YUMMY!!

Life of a Compulsive Knitter

I'm obsessed with this shawl yarn... I can't help it. The body of the pattern calls for 36 repeats of the diamond shapes. I have 28 repeats right now. I love how it looks. Here it is up close and personal: After I finish the 36 repeats, then I can start on the border around the edge. I think it looks great so far! I'm excited about starting the border. I hope I have it done in time for my husband's Christmas party! ^_^
Tomorrow we are going apple picking. Then I can make us some apple crisp. YUMMY!

Happy Day

Today was a good day at school. My student who was going to move hasn't, so that was a nice surprise to him at school today!
I started spinning the blue fiber yesterday. It is spinning up so magically. I can't believe how easy it is to spin. I couldn't help myself this morning and spent time spinning before school. I love how it's coming out. I can't wait to ply it and knit it! I think I found the perfect pattern to knit it into. I think I might have enough to knit something for myself with this fiber. I'm so in love with it and I don't really want to part with it, but I know my mom will LOVE it!

Finger Lakes Wine Tour!

First I must say that this wine tour was the way to go!!! It was so much fun and we got to try so much! The trolley that we were on was very nice. We were able to buy as much wine as we wanted and the trolley could fit it without a problem.

Here is the start of my trip to meet my friend to get the trolley: Ah, the New York State Thruway. As you can see the leaves haven't really changed color yet...but it was still a pretty drive. I arrived at beautiful Seneca Lake before my friend and there was a sailboat regatta going on. You can't really see it in the pict, but it was cool to watch:We did meet up before the trolley came, but not before my wonderful friend tried to give me a heart attack. I have issues about time. I have this consistent need to be early to everything I go to. I need to "hurry up and wait" as my dad says. Knowing this (and that I'd be early to our meeting point) when I called her to see were she was she replied "Oh, I'm an hour away." WHAT???? Oh man, I almost dropped the phone, then she continues on "just kidding, I'm about 10 minutes away." Oh thank goodness! I had a small panic attack, but I think she knew that would happen! Very funny! HA HA! (can you see how amused I am?) Here is our trolley that we spent a lot of time on yesterday:We set off for our first winery of the day (our tour included 5 wineries): Wagners. I've been to Wagners before, but never tried to wine. I was a little kid when my grandparents had a cottage on Seneca Lake. I have eaten many lunches at Wagners' Ginny Lee Cafe. However, we got a walking tour of how they make the wines before we started tasting. Here are the vats that they make the wine in:The bigger silver rings are the refrigeration units that cool it when they want to stop the fermentation process. I didn't know that the sweeter the wine, the sooner it's stopped. The dryer the wine, the later it's stopped. So see, my day WAS educational! I had to take this pict because it was so funny to me:I know it's kind of blurry, but it says : Danger: confined space Do Not Enter. Duh, why would you want to get in there unless you wanted to die by drowning in wine? That would be a great plot line for a mobster movie.
Next we saw how the stems and leaves are separated from the grapes. Here's the machine that dose that:Here's the stems and leaves after being separated:Here are the grapes before they go though the machine. They sit in these tubs and they have vitamins added to them to enhance the sweetness and other important things before they are pressed and made into wine.After seeing that, we walked though an area full of barrels where some wines were aging in their barrels. I liked seeing them. They were in American Oak barrels and they will sit for at least 2 years.A big barrel of wine:More barrels sitting and aging:The artistic shot of aging barrels:Finally it was time to start tasting the wines. We tried four different kinds of white, and then fours reds and one dessert wine. My friend has been to culinary school and took a wine tasting course. She taught me how to swirl the wine and why you do that. It was cool to learn about how to hold the glass and the different smells. I really don't want to look like a country bumpkin who doesn't know about wine tasting... we had a few people on our trolley whose main objective was to get as drunk as possible off the sample wines. We then looked at what we wanted to buy and went back to the bar to try a few that were not on our tastings. We decided that we should eat lunch before we buy so off to the cafe we went. Lunch was great. I had a wrap and she had a chicken sandwich. I then bought two bottles of white wines and she bought one. We were very excited about this and then it was time to get back on the trolley and taste some more wines at the next winery.

The next winery was Standing Stone. The tasting room was very open and pretty. It was painted in a soft yellow that really showed off the room. I liked the atmosphere. Here is the view of the lake outside the winery:

Here was their selection of wines:I bought their Riesling. I got one for me and one for my in-laws.
Here is their dessert wine (it was good, but not something I could sit and drink):After we bought our wines we had a little bit of time before we had to be back on the trolley for our next destination. So, we took a walk down to see the grapes up close (and try a few too):Here's another shot of grapes:Then we drove around the lake to Gelnora Cellars Winier. We had to wait outside for a little while. Then we were given our own private tasting room since our group was so big. We tried about nine wines and my friend and I both bought their Jammin' Red wine.At this point our box to hold wine on the trolley was almost full. From there we headed over to Anthony Road Winery:Here's our group tasting the wines:Here is a sample of their wine:Sweet Dream was the name of their dessert wine: Here's the view of the lake and vineyards at Anthony Road:Anthony Road had a great garden that we could walk in (neither one of us bought wine here, nothing really WOWed us). Here's their scarecrow protecting the garden from birds: They had these beautiful morning glories that were so big:There were also these big red beans: Of course, this garden had grapes:The grapes were growing on a trellis above our heads. I loved how they hung down from the beams:There were also a few pumpkins: We also found this old wine press when we were getting ready to leave:As this sign shows our final stop would be at Fox Run:Here was the entrance to Fox Run:Their symbol is a fox (duh, FOX Run...). So here was a bronze statue of a fox on a stone in front of the winery:Here was a great view of the lake from the front of Fox Run:I bought a bottle of the "Arctic Fox" a sweet white wine. That was the last place we went and it finally was sunny on our ride back to our cars. I highly recommend going on a tour of the Finger Lakes wineries. We are now planning to look into touring the Niagara region wineries... yum.