Guitar Lessons-crosspost

Brandon is learning guitar so Brad is giving him 'lessons"...Hey it's a way to get him over here and 'see" him...LOL....take note of the Yellow Billabong!!
He practiced wuth Brad for a little while ..then asked Britt to come down and sing for him...It turned into a regular Jam session.
she has been writing her own songs and they are GOOOD! if I do say so myself...Brandon was impressed...He has been going to this coffeeshop that has open mike nights and I think he'd like to bring her..

Surprise Phone Call-crosspost

So who should call today but Brad( which wasn't all that surprising I expected a call since today was Rachel's surgery)
What I DIDN'T expect though was to be told 'hey, I'm in NY and will be home in a few hours!!!" ACKKKKK.....I thought I had a whole 24 more hours to get the house together.......that's what i get for letting things go and then procrastinating till the 'laaassst minute" ....then ....joy joy..the electricty goes out so then I couldn't even DO half the things i needed to do.....ARGG
We managed to get what we could, done without electricty and luckily things didn't look too bad.....it was kewl seeing the kids actually hanging together in the living room( even Nate!!)

....playing a card game...by candlelight..LOL...
Brad's flight even got in early..LOL...he brought us back some neat loot from Holland..hats for the girlspottery for meand cheese for Rachel but we hope she will share..LOL
the electricity eventually came back ...and it was a really nice evening..

More Extreme MakeOver-crosspost

Well this morning was Rachels operation..we had to be there at 6:15am...which meant we had to leave around 5:30am...which meant we had to get up around 4:30am( yyaawwwnn)needless to say we are EXHAUSTED.........her surgery went VERY well....they said she had no trouble going under and she had no trouble waking up...and that she was the perfect patient...we were on our way home by 10:00am...so far she is not feeling any pain...we are both just tired...i can't really tell 'how it looks" as she has a big white bandage covering it all up.....here are some pics...from today......Mooooooom I'm getting dressed!
Joy Joy we LOOOVE IV's
all marked up....
all done and bandaged

Secretpal#4

I've joined my first Secret pal swap! this should be fun....I really enjoy this whole crafting,crocheting,knitting bloglife....I love reading all the blogs and seeing everyones ideas and projects...
so anyways I figured I'd post my answers to the Secretpal#4 questionaire.....

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer high- a nd/natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you? I mainly use Redheart or Lionbrand but that's mostly because that's all that's really available to me in my town....I do occasionally buy nice yarns online....I pretty much like anything though...
2. Do you spin? Crochet? I would really love to learn to spin...i love to crochet..and am pretty good at it..knitting is pretty 'new' for me ..
3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.) Nope
4. How long have you been knitting? I actually was taught to knit when i was a kid but i never really took to it..but a year or so ago i felt the urge to try it agian and i've been enjoying it...i still prefer crochet though..
5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?no, unfortunately not....
6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.) Jamine..but i like anything...
7. Do you have a sweet tooth? absolutely...especially CHOCOLATE
8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? now a days i mostly crochet and/or knit......i would like to pick up painting again....I do a little bit of sewing....
9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) I like all kinds....my favorties are peopel like Sheryl Crow, martina mcBride, and Faith Hill......but i like just about everything....not sure about the MP3 thing...i think so
10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? I like pinks and purples....but I'm also starting to gravitate towards turquoises and other blues like that<--and am having a hard time finding yarn in those colors...
11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? Married to a Navy man...4 kids all teens( actually one is now offically an 'adult") and two cats....
12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know) gosh ...my life 'dreams"...to travel to italy.....to learn to spin and create my own yarns ..and to open my own YarnCraft shop...
13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? I like it all
14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? Can't thikn of any
15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s? I'm not sure...with knitting..i'm pretty much at the good at knitting scarves stage although i did make a nice sweater once....with crocheting...i'd say maybe hats...and ponchos
16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
17. What are you knitting right now? the Alien Illusion scarf from the Stich n' Bitch book
18. What do you think about ponchos? Love them....have made a bunch of them...
19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? I'd say straight ..although the circular ones come in handy for some things...
20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? no preference ..all iv'e sued so far are alluminum...
21. Are you a sock knitter? not yet but i really want to try it....
22. How did you learn to knit? my mom taught me to crochet and knit YEARS ago....when i was little...the crocheting took off the knitting didn't....but now i'm knitting and i really like it..
23. How old is your oldest UFO? Oh man....i got some that are YEEEEEAAAARS old....LOL
24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird? Hello Kitty
25. What is your favorite holiday? New Years
26. Is there anything that you collect?yarn..LOL.......Mary Englebreit...Mermaids....Candles....Dolphin Fish( not to be confused with actual "Dolphins" this is a certain kind of 'fish") ...Virgin Mary( Statues..pictures)....Crosses.....

Gymnastics Again-crosspost

Britt's meet last week was canceled due to snow...so tonight was the make-up meet.....they had it at Deep Creek HS ......tonight Britt got to do Vault ...and she did really well IMO...although her coach only let her do a straddle .....which means a low score...oh well it was nice for her to get to do something different and at least she DOES get to participate....this was their last regular meet...now all they have are District. regionals and state ...but Britt doesn't think she'll get to compete in those....so she's probably pretty much done now..for the year....I plan to put her back in Ocean Tumblers so she can get up to speed and hopefully be much better next year...she really did seem to enjoy it this year..and the other girls were all great with her...here are a few picsgetting ready for the Line Upsiiting in the sidelines while their team member performshelping to break down the floor after the meet....

Extreme Makeover??-crosspost

Well it's official......as some of you may know Rachel has a skin disorder called Parry Rombergs Syndrome ..which is basically hemifacial atrophy...the right side of her face is/was atrophying...or the soft tissues cells were not regnerating....so she has some significant asymetry going on although it's really not ALL that noticeable......well....they are going to do some cosmetic surgery to try to correct it on Friday.....she had her pre-op appointment today...they'll be liposuctioning out some fat from her abdomen and injecting it into areas of her face that have atrophied.....they are also going to be doing a chemcial peel to try to remove some of the discoloration caused by it as well.....anyways we joked about how lucky she is gettign lipo on her tummy...she'll have anice flat tummy for our PR trip..LOL here she is in the examining room....

Comments!!!

BTW I wanted to say how excited I was to see my first 'comments" on my blog...thank you guys so much....i am pretty proud of that seat cover.....LOL....i STILL haven't started on the second one..i am dreading it ......

Slacking off already........

Oh my ...it's been a few days..ok a good week......here is what I have been up to lately....

most of these will be put up on eBay..the duplicates will be donated to a homeless shelter nearby...

I made this during Britt's Gymnastics meet last night...i got most of it finished there..only had the last couple rows to finish up at home...here's a pic from her meet..


and this is what i'm working on now...it's a Valentine's Baby Blanket that i'll list on eBay when it's done...

No School-crosspost

The girls had today off for MLK day.... man is it cccccold here.... this morning their Chorus class sponsored a Pancake Breakfast....$5 a head....yesterday she sold tickets at church to some of our friends...she didn't exactly give them a choice.....LOL.....so it was a nice morning with friends....yummy ...and i don't really even like pancakes..LOL..i took some cute pictures of the 'spoon" contest....i'll post them when i can get my hands on Rae's camera....

Amsterdam or Bust-crosspost

Well Brad left for Amsterdam today....he will be gone for 2 weeks.....lucky him....he just got back from Japan a few weeks ago.....this trip is for some kind of 'warfare' conference...he is pretty excited that he got picked to go...so it's mainly the girls and me at home....Nate's usually not around much....We were disussing what kind of 'goodies" he should bring us back....we were trying to figure out WHAT Amsterdam was 'known" for....then it hit me ..the Redlight district..and legalized Pot...LOL Ummmmmm..nah we don't need THOSE kinds of .'souveniers"...and he better not bring any home if he knows what's good for.him.LOL....I'm sure he'll find other suitable 'goodies" for us....

Hickory Rocks!-crosspost

Britt had another gymnastics meet last night.....Hickory came in first as usual....although it seemed to be a rough night for quite a few of our girls.....Britt fell off the beam twice and was quite disappointed ...another one of the girls fell off the beam as well and one flew off the bars( she was quite upset about it) ...and there were a few mishaps with the vault....the floor routines ROCKED though.......sorry the pics below are blurry...we can't use flash during the competitions..and without it my pics tend to come out blurry....Britt on beam practicing...her team watching the floor routines and rooting their teamate on...

To Market ! To Market!-crosspost

I had such a great day yesterday ...I went to the Asian Market in Va Beach with a couple of friends. What a great place...I couldn't decide what to buy so i bought a bunch of different things for us to try..after we were done shopping we piled into the truck and passed our loot around to sample.....some of it was yummy , and some of it was Yucky!..LOL....here are some pics of my loot....yummy stuff:Yucky stuff:More yummy stuff:this actually came with cute little spoons:we also went to the Puerto Rican market and nanci bought me this......then we went next door to the Puerto Rican Diner and had lunch ..it was very good ...fried plantains.....chicken stew..and yellowrice and beans...washed down with coconut soda....YUMMMM

Puerto Rico Here We Come!!!-crosspost

Wooo HOO....we booked our flights last night so we are definately going!!! My best friend N. is origionally from Puerto Rico and her and her husband are buying a vacation home there. They are going in March to close on it and have invited us to come along. There is another couple that we are good friends with that are also going... I am sooo excited ...it's going to be such a fun trip.....now I have less then 2 months to lose 50 lbs!!!!!

Busy Busy Busy

I have been crocheting up a storm the last few days......
I made this Poncho in 2 1/2 hours to wear to a Post Christmas party at our home. I also made another just like it later that night in other colors...

then i made this one ..I plan to let Rachel have it...if she doesn't want it, then I'll probably sell it on eBay.

Here are some hats I've been making...these take me less then an hour..I plan to sell the two colorful ones on eBay and the brown one will be donated.. I plan to make more of the colorful ones to donate too

and here is a poncho I'm making as a swimsuit coverup for our trip to Puerto Rico..it's not finished yet I need to buy more cotton yarn..hopefully i can still find this color pattern..

the alien illusion scarf I am making for Rachel. I have finsihed two aliens ...hopefully only 3 more to go...

and last but not least here is Britt modeling the Poncho I made for her...

Time to Relax-crosspost

Today was a nice lazy day for me.. didn't do much...I wore my other new poncho to church ..again it was a hit..... Brandon came over tonight for guitar lessons. He decided he wanted to learn about a month ago, and he is already getting pretty good. Brad loaned him one of his guitars to learn on.(BTW he's wearing the Maroon Billabong tonight...i think he did it on purpose to mess with my yellow count..LOL)I started taking down the decorations....here's our silly kitty getting all tangled up in the wire garland.. I put it on the banister for just a second and she wasted no time jumping into the middle of it..

Post Christmas Party-crosspost

Tonight we hosted the KofC( Knights of Columbus) Post Christmas party. this was one of the reasons I left our decorations up until now. Today was a busy day of cleaning and cooking to get ready for the 'party" .. At 4:00pm I decided to start crocheting a poncho. At 6:30pm I was in my bedroom putting the finishing touches on it as my guests arrived...LOL...I wore it tonight it turned out great and all the women loved it. Then after all the guests left I started another one to wear to church tomorrow..LOL

Saga of the Yellow Billabong-crosspost

Thru the year I want you to take note of the yellow Sweatshirt Brandon is wearing...you will more than likely see it OFTEN! As i looked thru my pictures from last year I noticed a pattern emerging when it came to pictures of Brandon..in nearly EVERY picture he is wearing the SAME Maroon Billabong Sweatshirt. Soooo, for Christmas this year.......I bought him a NEW billabong Sweatshirt( this time in Yellow) I was hoping we'd get to see some variety this year...LOL...well so far I've seen Brandon about 5 times since Christmas and EVERY time he has been wearing the Yellow Billabong. So i figured I'd start of photojournal chronicalling( is that a word?) the Year of the Yellow Billabong. I wonder how many picture's I can get of him wearing it? ..let's start with New Years.

And of course his Birthday.

Break Fast Anyone? -crosspost

Here's what I'm having for Breakfast this morning....I'll start my diet 'tomorrow"..LOL

Brandon's 21st Birthday-crosspost

Today is Brandon's 21st Birthday. We figured he'd have big plans with his friends tonight, so we had him come over last night to celebrate. I made him a nice homecooked meal of Lasagna and Garlic Bread and then we celebrated with Purple Iced Cupcakes. It was a nice quiet , boring , family celebration.
Making a Wish
MMMMNNnn Yummy
Wonder What it could be??Ahhh! Just what I always Wanted!!

One Done One to Go

Well here's my first finished slipcover.


I should have made the bottom border longer. I might take the last row apart and add a few more rows. Now I need to make another just like it, and I don't feel like it..LOL..I started this on the 3rd and finished it last night so that wasn't too bad...I made good progress but it was confusing trying to figure out where I should connect all the squares to form the chair shape....it's going to be even MORE of a hassle trying to replicate it the second time...I'm toying with the idea of switching the colors having Red the main color and yellow the accent. but...i'm not sure....it's already kind of a 'busy" ( HA "kinda"???) pattern. I think having them different will cause even more busyness...but i think I'll like the Red with yellow accents better...and kind of wish I had done that from the start...

Newest Knitting

Britt had a Gymnastics meet tonight. I didn't want to bring my 'slipcover" project as it it getting too big to lug around, so i decided to start a NEW project. The Alien Illusion Scarf from the Stich N' Bitch book( I just bought it the other day). I wasn't sure I would be able to do it, as it's a mroe complicated pattern then I'm used to.( most of my 'knitting" has consisted of making one long solid strip) this pattern calls for color changes for every two rows and even stitch changes in the middle of rows. But I'm doing Ok and I can even see the 'alien" taking shape in the design. This is going to be for Rachel( I just wish I had gotten this book BEFORE Christmas so it could have been a gift)Any ways I'm about halfway thru my first 'alien".. and I'm really enjoying it.

Tonight was Britt's 3rd Gymanastics meet. She did a little better then the last one. The other girls on the team are much better then her but she keeps practiing and is improving. She has a beam routine now. She added a little to it since her last meet. Her team came in First place again this week...they've come in First for every meet this year so far.
Brad and Rachel have Choir practice on Wednesdays so they aren't able to make it to her meets, but I've been going. Today i brought along some knitting. I just started a scarf for Rachel. It's called Alien Illusion from the Stitch n' Bitch book.