Remember to vote today!!!  As if anyone could forget!  Hubby, 19yo daughter Sarah, and I all voted about 3 weeks ago.  Hubby and I decided we didn’t want to have to wait in line and Sarah was concerned because her Tuesday class schedule is busy and she would have had to stand in two lines to register and vote, since she’s not in the same dorm as she was last spring, during the primary.  I can’t wait to start watching the results this evening!  It’s going to be a LONG day!  It seems weird to not be voting today, though.  Emily wishes she could vote for Obama, too.  She will get to vote in 2012.

I’m looking forward to going to Z-spot this morning and getting a chai latte for 50 cents less, since we will be sporting our “I Voted” stickers.  DH will probably take advantage of the free cup of coffee at Starbucks.  I don’t like plain coffee, so the free coffee doesn’t do me much good.  Go Obama!

We are busy tomorrow evening and were too busy last weekend, too.  Tonight was the only night we could do it.  Emily carved the little pumpkin, in her botany class, so they could learn the parts of the pumpkin.  The rind is called the exoderm.  The edible part of the pumpkin is the endoderm, and the divisions inside, where the goop is and the seeds, is called the carpals.  I took a picture of my pumpkin, right after I cut the top off, so you could see the carpals.

She designed a horse picture, for her bigger pumpkin and realized that you have to have positive areas and negative areas, to make the design show up properly. Mine is just a face, because I have no time or patience for templates. I’m lucky I have a carved pumpkin.

I’m behind on posting dishcloths. I hope to catch up this weekend. I know I have to post both Octobers for sure!

I’ve really been a slacker!  Ugh.  I’ve been working 48-52 hour payperiods, the last 4 weeks, along with Emily having to be at the county fair, all 5 days that it was running, have to go for 4H judging, of her knitting, shopping for wedding clothes, going to my nephew’s wedding, and trying to sleep in there somewhere!  The last 2 weeks of August were insanely busy.

For the good news, though, Emily entered her Wicked Sweater, her Foliage Hat, her Saucy Socks and her Cabled Mittens and got blue ribbons on all of them!!  Woohoo for Emily!!!!!! Plus, her Wicked Sweater got a special merit and if she wants to, it can be displayed at the Wisconsin State Fair next summer!!!!!!!  She’s only been knitting since March 2007, but she’s a most amazing knitter.  For her riding, she got two red ribbons, but she had a blast, and was so cute in her show clothes.

I’ve also been busy knitting away, with my Monthly Dishcloth KAL group. I love knitting dishcloths, that are a mystery.  I’m way behind on posting my work, though. In the gallery above, you can see the dishcloths that I knit, from the beginning of August. With the yellow one, I thought I might have enough yellow. I almost did, except for 1-1/2 rows, and the bind-off! LOL! Peppercorn was from one of the cones of Peaches and Creme that I got for Christmas from my SIL. The schoolhouse was a good September design. I just wish my purl stitches had been a little tighter.

Weather in Wisconsin has been uneventful and nice most of the time. The last 2 days have been damp and cool, though. Will love it when the extra moisture goes away. A few mornings this week, we had temps in the 40’s!!! The last two mornings haven’t been quite so cool. We haven’t needed the AC or the heat, which is good. I’ve needed long sleeves and quilts, though! LOL!

My thoughts and prayers are with those who live in TX. God Bless You tonight!

We got up to about 82 today! It felt heavenly! We were wearing sandals and leaving the jackets in the house! Unfortunately, we only get one day of this glorious weather! Tonight it’s supposed to cool down into the 40’s and only be in the 50’s tomorrow, so we will have jump right back into the long pants and sweatshirts.

We went to visit my SIL and BIL today, since Roger needed some help on his computer. The kids had fun dipping their feet in the backyard pool. We hadn’t thought to bring swimsuits, but the water was still pretty cold, so they thought they really wouldn’t have wanted to swim, anyway.

We ate lunch at Noodles, where somehow my Pad Thai turned into Pesto Cavatappi. We checked the receipt and he’d never even put the correct order in, in the first place! Was he even listening? Or are the buttons close together, on his register? I didn’t make a fuss, because the Cavatappi looked good and I didn’t want to waste perfectly good food. I guess I’ll have to try the Pad Thai some other time. The cavatappi was good, though! On our next visit, I’ll be waiting while my husband pays, so we can double-check the receipt right away, before they’ve made me something else.

My favorite thing about Noodles is the fresh lemon wedges that they have by the soda fountain, for the people who drink iced tea. Those lemon wedges taste really good in my Diet Coke, too! Yummmy! The heck with all the chemically-flavored Coke and Pepsi products. Nothing tests better than actual lime juice or lemon juice squeezed into a glass of soda!

Here is the mid-May KAL. It’s called Every Day Any Day, by Sue Schaefer of Harvest Moon Designs. It took me a while to knit, because I was trying to do all the purls, with the yarn over the top and that’s new to me, so it takes me a while. I can purl a lot faster, with the yarn going underneath the needle. I was watching some women knit, at my knit-night the other night and they were so fast, and so efficient with the yarn over the top of the needle. I guess I just need more practice with that. I like my continental knitting with knitting in the back loops and the purls underneath the needle! I’m pretty fast, with plain stockinette.

My daughter Sarah, just sent me an email, that says the cold front is working it’s way down the Lake Michigan coastline and that it should be going through Sheboygan, right about now!  I guess that’s the end of our warm day, huh?  Well, it was nice, while it lasted!  (7:05 pm, CDT.)

The Rachael Ray dinner was delicious.  I just finished eating it for the second time tonight!  We cooked up 6 chicken breasts, at once, since that would make 2 supper’s worth of sandwiches for the 3 of us.  We only made half a recipe (8-oz of pre-shredded cabbage), of the cole slaw and that was easily enough for 2 night’s worth, for the three of us.

It was also nice, that I’d done most of the hard work, on Monday night, since on Tuesday, I had to work at 5pm.  My hubby and daughter only had to assemble the sandwiches, and serve the coleslaw for last night’s supper.

Emily and I also know now, that in the absence of lemon juice to keep the avocado fresh, we can keep the second half in the peel, face-down on a plate, covered tightly with plastic wrap, to be able to use it the next night.  We meant to buy a lemon, but we forgot.  We also forgot to buy the green onions for the cole slaw.  Maybe next time!

It was definitely worth all the hard work of juicing 3 limes!  They are harder to juice, than lemons.

We had a sunny day today, which was nice, after all of yesterday’s rain.  It’s also supposed to rain tomorrow night.  That’s better than Duluth, MN, who is under a blizzard warning for tomorrow night!  Ugh.  Temp was in the low 50’s today.

I recently finished a new Monthly Dishcloth KAL.  This one was a spring scene with flowers in a field, called The Meadow.  It was designed by Lindy,  She’s only 16.  Doesn’t she do a great job?

I found a knitting contest today, at Modest Purls.  You just have to mention what colors you like!

My April KAL cloth, will be finished soon!  I’m about to go up and knit, now! It’s a pretty spring scene!

Sarah and I are glad we aren’t up in Duluth, MN today.  It’s blustery and cold, with a winter storm warning!  Brrrr.  We had a great weekend, with temps in the 50’s and 60’s, down here!

Duluth Webcam - We found this webcam, after we got home from Duluth, last summer.  It’s fun always getting to see what the weater looks like, or how many people are watching the boats go through, or even seeing one of the big ships going through the canal, if you are lucky!

On Thursday nights, Emily and I like to gather with other knitters at Bahr Creek in Cedar Grove.  We’ve missed more darn Thursdays, because of snow, and it’s driving us crazy!  It’s 15 miles away, so snow can be an issue.  Argh.  Tomorrow, this is the forecast.

Thursday

Not as cold. Light snow likely in the morning…then snow in the afternoon. Snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches. Highs in the upper 20s. Southwest winds 10 to 15 mph shifting to the west late in the afternoon. Chance of snow 90 percent.

So, it looks like we will be knitting at home, yet another Thursday.  On WTMJ this morning, they said 3-6 inches. When is spring coming?  Last week Wednesday, 2-6-08, we ended up with 16.5 inches of snow, bringing our seasonal total to 62 inches, which is up from our seasonal average of 41 inches.  We’ve had 3 inches and 2 inches, since then, too!  Geez.

The only good thing is that days are getting longer.  There is actually a little bit of daylight, when I get up around 6:15am and it’s very much still light out, after 5pm, in the evening, too!  So, we are getting closer to spring.

My second dishcloth is done was finished a few days ago! It’s called Diamonds on Lace. Yarn was Peaches n Creme Fiesta Ombre and was knit with size 7 needles.

I’m also on my way, with my second sock! After a few false starts, I got the “join” right and I got an inch done, at the knit-night tonight! I’m past the awkwardness of getting started, with the double-pointed needles and knitting has gotten easier. It was fun to show off my completed sock, to the knitting group, at Bahr Creek tonight!

My market bag, Elisa’s Nest Tote, is all finished with the knitting part. I need to get my crochet hook and the instructions ready, to start seaming up the sides. I haven’t had a chance to get that done yet.

Last week, I made a Baby Genius burp cloth, from the Mason-Dixon book, but I already gave it to my cousin, last Saturday, without taking a picture! Argh! I used Peaches and Creme Sea Mist which is blue, green and white. It was pretty. Now, I’m working on the Mason-Dixon bib! I’ll get a picture of that, before I send it off.

At the knit-night tonight, I was skimming through Stephanie Pearl-Mcphee Casts Off. I was laughing so hard I was crying! Emily and I will have to see if it’s at the library tomorrow!

We missed the last 2 knit-nights, due to bad weather, that only seemed to be occurring on Thursday nights! Two weeks ago, we had snow and last Thursday, the snow happened more during the day, but it had been warm and was supposed to be much colder in the evening, leading to all the wet spots freezing up. Well, that seemed a little too scary to be driving in, so Emily and I stayed home. We love going, so it was hard to just stay home, although, we did knit at home, but sure missed the social aspect of going to the yarn store! All those women are great company!

Amy, one of the usual women who come, is going to Mexico this weekend on a mission trip! Our group knit over 50 hats, for her to take with her, for the orphans! Emily and I knit 2 of those 50-some hats! We can’t wait to get started on new hats, for the next need that comes along.

Tomorrow is supposed to be in the 20’s. I almost don’t remember what that feels like. After the single digits and sub-zero temps of the past week, 20’s will feel like a heatwave. Then we get 30’s to possibly 40, over the weekend! Woohoo!

From Weather Underground:

Thursday

Blustery. Snow in the morning…then light snow likely in the afternoon. Areas of blowing snow in the afternoon. Snow accumulation of 2 to 3 inches. Highs around 30. South winds 5 to 10 mph increasing to 15 to 25 mph in the afternoon. Chance of snow 80 percent.

My 15yo daughter and I like to go to our LYS (local yarn store), about 15 minutes away, to knit with a wonderful group of women and share our projects and see what they are knitting, etc. It’s a lovely social outlet and a chance to share the hobby with other like-minded women. We couldn’t go last week, to Bahr Creek, because it snowed in the evening. Now there’s a potential for our Thursday night to be all messed-up again! There is a winter storm watch for the southwestern part of the state tomorrow and the storm has the potential to go far enough east, to bother us, too!

So, why on Thursdays? Why not any other day of the week? Whine! If Thursday gets messed up again, Emily will NOT be happy!

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.