Holy cow! I got so busy at work and just had no time for extras.  I was barely even getting email read, let along posting in my blog.  Someone quit, then someone was hired, but then she had to be trained.  Then people were off, in December.  I barely had time to breathe!  So, the blog waited and waited and waited.  Now I have 14 pictures to post of finished objects, snow from December 19th, and big waves from January 3rd!

My family was very happy that Obama won the election and that it was a done deal even before we went to bed on November 4th.  We look forward to the Inauguration now!

We had a great Thanksgiving and  a wonderful Christmas, although I was so busy I barely got to enjoy it.  Had fun at Christmas celebrations on both sides of the family.  My family did a White Elephant gift exchange.  Parameters were that the gift had to weigh about a pound and cost $10 or less.  I ended up with some Charmin’ Ultra Plush toilet paper and while my sister thought toilet paper would be the ultimate gag gift (and we did laugh about it!), my family was in desperate need of toilet paper, at that precise moment, so we were glad to get it!  LOL!  Gary got a bundle of bungie cords, Sarah got some fancy hot chocolate mix, and Emily I can’t remember anymore.  Gary almost got candy, but that was stolen away by a candy-hungry nephew!  Bungie cords are more useful for him, anyway.

I didn’t get to open Gary’s present, until we were together with Gary’s family.  He had it shipped to their house and then had my SIL wrap it in 3 different boxes, each one completely wrapped with ribbons and bows, too.  It turned out to be an 8G iPod Nano in turquoise blue!  So, I’ve been busy uploading music and getting that all set up to my specifications!  Also, we had to delete a ton of music from my iTunes library that even Sarah wouldn’t be listening to anymore.

Emily earned all but $20 towards a Nintendo DS.  She got Polar White and is enjoying it very much.  Sarah was doing some video work for my nephew Ryan and got paid nicely for that, so she went out and bought a Wii.  We’ve all been having fun with that.  I bowl better on the Wii, than I do in real life!  The cow racing game on Wii Play is hysterical.  It’s also hard to play the game, when everyone is laughing really hard.

I’m way behind on posting pictures of finished knitting projects, but I was finding time to get them photographed.

I finally finished Elisa’s Nest Tote this past Sunday night. After sitting for 2 months, I found out that the handles were easier than I thought. It was knit with Patagonia Nature Cotton by Araucania, which has a thick and thin texture. It’s 100% cotton. I’ve already used my bag, twice, too. It easily held my detergent bottle and my latest Debbie Macomber book, for a trip to the laundromat with a big quilt. Emily and I also took it to the grocery store! The pattern for the nest tote is from Purlbee.

Dots within Stripes is the name of the Mid-April 2008 KAL for the monthly dishcloth group. It’s a pattern from Knitting on the Net. I’m thinking this one would look pretty in lots of different color combinations!

Oh yeah. It’s still cold out and supposed to get down into the 30’s tonight. Oh joy.

Jasmine’s delicates looked less red and swollen today. She also isn’t scooting and licking down there anymore, too, so I’m guessing it all feels better. I’m glad we took her in yesterday.

Windy, plus temps only in the low 40’s for a high. It just wasn’t pleasant and didn’t feel like spring. It seemed more like a late February to late March sort of day! Ugh.

Jasmine had to go to the vet today. Her sensitive female parts were red and swollen. He said she had a dermatitis and gave us some powder to put on. I think she already feels better. The vet said it was a good thing that we brought her in, when we did, because once the skin gets too irritated, the dog won’t let you do anything to it, because it hurts! We had to pay extra, for them to squeeze her in today, but I don’t think it could have waited for the Wednesday appointment we’d already made.

I finished my market bag yesterday and actually used it twice today! I need to catch up on taking pictures of my finished objects tomorrow. We’ve just been so busy! I also need to get pictures of my last 2 finished dishcloths, so they can be posted on the Monthly Dishcloth Challenge blog! With 2 weddings and 2 confirmations, in a 3-week period, it hasn’t left much time for play.

I went to the laundromat today, to wash the comforter that goes on my bed, because it’s too much quilt to throw in the washing machine and the filling got all messed up, even more than before. Today, I really look at the quilt and realize it has NO STITCHING to keep the batting in place, so everytime I wash it, from now on, it’s going to get EVEN WORSE.  Actually, I seem to remember that it had little ties, here and there, but I think they are giving way, under use and going through the wash, etc.  It still isn’t like a seam that goes from the top to the bottom of the quilt, or the horizontal length of the quilt.

I was shopping tonight and I think I like this one, because I’m a lighthouse nut!!

Harbour Comforter Set

I like printed comforters, since we live in our bedroom sometimes, since there is a TV in there, and we share the bed with the dog.  It just doesn’t show each individual sin, like a solid color would!  LOL!

I’m way behind on posting! I’ve just been so busy with other stuff.

Squirrel dishcloth from the November dishcloth kal. We were supposed to use brown, but I just used soft teal, because that is what I had in the house. It was Sugar N Cream yarn.

Mid-November KAL gave us 2 cloths, one of which says, “Friend” and one that says, “My Pal.”

This one is for a secret pal. She will get it tomorrow night. It was fun making candy canes! Pattern purchased from Harvest Moon Christmas Cottage.

So, I’ve been busy knitting! Plus, I started a market bag, too, out of some cotton yarn that comes from Chile and has some pink and some blue throughout the fibers. I need to take a picture of that one.

We also had our first snowstorm, over the weekend. We got about 4-6 inches. Then it got warm and sloppy on Sunday, so we make all kinds of footprints in the snow, that are now frozen. It’s so hard to walk in the snow, in the backyard, now. Argh. Jasmine can move much faster than I can! It’s supposed to be cold, over the next week or so, too. So, conditions are not going to improve much.

I finished them on November 3rd, but haven’t gotten around to posting about them. I’m so happy that I got them all done, in early November.  After Christmas, I’m looking forward to making a few ballbands for me, in blues and ecru to match my kitchen!

We went to Oshkosh today, to get Sarah home for the weekend.  When we got home, the dog growled at Sarah, for a few seconds, until she realized who Sarah was, and then Jasmine got all lovey-dovey! It was like she’d forgotten.  Whoops.

We had some frost today, but people farther away from Lake Michigan were colder and had a LOT more!  My gaillardia seem unconcerned that winter’s coming and when I looked at them yesterday, they were still blooming strong.  I haven’t looked at them today yet.

This afternoon, we are going to the Bahr Creek yarn store and tonight we are going to see Beauty and the Beast, at the high school.  I think this day’s going to fly by.

I attempted to get farther on my sock tonight, but I’m right back where I started today.  Argh.  My decreases weren’t going evenly, because I kept forgetting if I was on a knit row, or a decrease row, because I kept dropping stitches and having to fix them.  By the time I got them fixed, I would forget what I was doing.  Plus, I misplaced my tiny crochet hook for a while and had to find it, and the PHONE kept ringing!  There were just too many distractions!  The pattern isn’t that hard, but I need to know which row I was on and which direction I was going!  After I counted my stitches and they were very assymetrical, then I also noticed a dropped stitch, that didn’t have a logical place to go!  So, that’s when I frogged everything I had done tonight.  *sob*

Emily also had a ton of homework tonight,  and it’s 10pm and she’s not done yet, so she’s crabby, too.  The poor dog, she probably doesn’t know who she should hang out with.

I need to make a quick trip to the grocery store, too, but was trying to get farther on my knitting. So, I guess I need the trip to the grocery store, now, just to clear my head a little!  I’m so done with that sock for the night, now!

Another thing, adding to my distress is watching the animals shows on Animal Planet, where they rescue the neglected pets!  I’m frustrated with people who don’t vaccinate puppies for distemper.  On two different shows tonight, a dog was injured in some way, and recovered from the injuries, only to come down with distemper and have to put to sleep, anyway.  How does a dog collar get an inch into a dog’s neck, without anyone noticing?  I don’t get it!  Oh yeah, the dog collar lady was arrested for animal cruelty.  I gave my dog some extra hugs and belly rubs tonight!

It got up to 95 today.  It was just wicked to be outside.  The kids and I just stayed in the house today.  Jasmine didn’t want to be outside, either!  LOL!  Now, Weather Underground says 84.5F and a dewpoint of 72F.  It’s still warm, but not was hot as during the afternoon. 

We got a glimpse of a baby sparrow today.  It was hatched on June 28th, after being fertilized on June 9th!  (Yes, we saw it!). 

Kids were busy playing Monopoly today, since they’d had a blast playing the game, with their cousins, while they were visiting Grandma and Grandpa! They did many other things, while they were there, too, like eating at Fred and Fuzzy’s, and PC Junction, going horseback riding, taking sunset pictures on Eagle Tower in Peninsula State Park, going to a play in the woods, at the American Folklore Theater, and Hands On Art Studio! Mom said she was pooped, today! I can’t imagine why!

Anyway, I think tomorrow is going to be cooler!

I woke up to a temp of 45 this morning, although it didn’t feel THAT cold to me, when I was out with the dog.  We eventually got up into the 60’s, but it still felt chilly all day, because it was really windy and the wind wasn’t very warm.

So, tomorrow, brings 90 degree temps and the threat of severe weather.  I tell you, never a dull moment, here in southeastern WI. 

Sunday is still forecast to by 70 and sunny, when we have Sarah’s high school graduation!  Yikes!  How did she get so old, so fast?  Where did my baby go?  She is looking forward to studying nursing at UW-Oshkosh, in the fall!

I have surpassed 5000 pages of reading, so far this year!  My book page was just updated today!  I’m glad to be on to some chick-lit, after reading 3 different treatises on Theodore Roosevelt’s trip down a Brazilian river, back in 1913-1914!  It was interesting, but I’m done with that now!

It’s 47 degrees outside, according to my household thermometer AND Weather Underground!  It didn’t feel THAT cold, when I was out with the dog, but I had on my winter jacket anyway, since I’m just wearing a t-shirt in the house and didn’t feel like bundling up with the lighter jackets.  I wonder how cold it will be, in the morning!

I finished the June monthly KAL today.  It’s a unicorn!  I’ll get a picture of it, tomorrow, when the light is better.  There is no place bright enough, in my house, at night and it won’t look right!  I’m struggling with some booties.  I’m not that well-versed in picking up previously knitted stitches.  Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

I’m off to bed, to get warm and continue reading Through the Brazilian Wilderness, about Teddy Roosevelt’s trip down an uncharted Amazon tributary!  It’s the 3rd book I’m reading, about the topic!  I’ve also read River of Doubt and My Last Chance to Be a Boy!  In the current book, he goes on and on and on, about how horrible the bugs are!  Ewww.  It doesn’t make me want to go to the rainforest anytime soon!  LOL!

Yes, I think that was the theme of the day’s presentations at UW-Oshkosh, for a batch of incoming freshman and their nervous parents!  We had a day of college orientation today.  It kept making my eyes tear up, at the thought of my baby going off to college.  I’m alternately happy and excited that she will be in college and sad that she won’t be around home so much anymore.

I know she’ll have such a good time at college, because despite the coursework, papers to write, homework, and reading to do, I know she’ll have so much fun!  Part of me is jealous, because I almost wish I could go do it all over again, yet I know at this age, it just wouldn’t be the same experience that it was in my late teens, and early 20’s.

At least the people were all good speakers.  I think everyone of them made us laugh, at one point or another!  It helped the day to go a little bit faster.

Emily had a fun weekend, up in Door County with Grandma and Grandpa.  Even at the age of 15, it’s still very fun to stay overnight, at their house!  This morning, she got to go riding at a stable, where they let you groom the horse and tack it up, ride it, and then groom it again!  Also, you have to sign up for a specific time, and then it’s only you, for that time, so she got private time, with the horse person, and the horse. 

Poor Jasmine is stuck at the kennel, until morning, because we got home too late to have picked her up tonight.  He charges $15 extra, for off-hour pickups.  Ugh.  So, we will be there bright and early at 7:30am, to bring her back home!  It just doesn’t seem the same in the house, with Emily and Jasmine both gone.