Happy Labor Day???

Is that even an appopriate thing to say? I guess it is if you work for a living like most of the people I know and actually get a day off since it's a holiday and all!!! So, Happy Labor Day! I truly hope everyone is enjoying a break with family/friends/whatever... enjoy!

I enjoyed my Sunday even with a still aching back. It's really mostly my tailbone at this point, I'd say the pain part is turning a corner to totally manageable at this point. Hooray! Hard to sit in a hard chair or any chair for a long time for that matter, but I need to move more anyway, so that shouldn't be a big deal.

So after church today (which I played at and the band rocked for God today no less!!!) we went to hubby's brother's house for a dinner with the fam. It was lovely! Grilled chicken and ribs, plethora of salads, fruit, dessert, you get the idea. The kids all played nice (for the most part) together and then G&G took them home (that's short for Grandma and Grandpa, the coolest people in the world!) and even took their newest step-cousin too!!! Super duper!!! Then we sat around with hubby's brother, his wife, my sister and her hubby and chatted which was really nice. Then hubby and I went to see a movie which we never get a chance to do and WOW was I glad I saw that!!!

We saw "The Dark Knight" which I've been wanting to see since before Heath Ledger died, mainly because I love me some Heath, but also since the reviews were so good. Now I didn't rush right out when it came out for several reasons. First, I hadn't seen the first movie for the background story. Second, I never had the time!!! Third, doesn't matter because the first two were good enough! So hubby borrowed a DVD of the first movie from a friend and I watched that this week while I was laid up anyway. Good movie!!! But in the theater, "Dark Knight" did not disappoint. I'm sure 2/3rd's of the universe has already seen it, and I'm happy for you. But now I'm equally happy for me. Not only was the movie great but I'm glad to have seen the last performance by that brilliant man. God bless you Heath, may you rest in peace....

So now we're home and I'm checking all the stuff on the blessed internet that I haven't checked all day because I was kinda busy but in a good way and hubby's having a snack and I'm about to crawl in bed with a good book cuz that's what I love to do. Hopefully when we pick up the kids tomorrow they'll still behave for us so we can get all this laundry done before school starts on Tuesday!!! It's hard to do laundry when you can't bend over. I need help! On that note, I'm off. But not before I share a pic of my elder son in total shock and horror.... taken by his father.... oh he'd not like this at all if he ever saw it....



Couldn't help myself!!!!

TGI... oh whatever...

Ok, so it's Friday. Big whoopidy doo!!! Seriously, I took four days off for vacation and spent most of that time flat on my back. So today I actually had to work because no one could cover for me (and I have to work tomorrow morning too...) and my back is now officially KILLING ME!!! I spent the first hour home after work in bed, then hubby made dinner (yum) and I thought I'd check emails and stuff before heading back to bed. It's been about 15 minutes, and I'm done.

Seriously, Friday stinks this week. Give me Saturday!!!!!

Have a great weekend....

A little different...

So I thought since I haven't knitted and really haven't moved from the couch in about 24 hours, I'd sit up for a few and check out my friends' podcast while I typed up a little blog post of my own.

We as a family don't get many real vacations, like when you pick a destination and travel away from home and actually be a tourist someplace other than the same county you've always lived in. (Our's is a beautiful place, but it's home, ya know!) So this past June hubby and I decided that the kids needed to see Mackinaw Island. For that matter, so did I!! I've lived in Michigan all my life and had never actually been to the island. So we looked online into camping/hotel rates and decided that if we were going to spend three nights up north in June that we would rent a cabin instead of tenting and it was WAY cheaper than hotels. Plus, bonus we could have a campfire!!! So that's what we did. We drove the four hour drive up to the bridge and pulled into our cabin which was brand new and wonderful... here's a couple looks of the interior (it really sleeps six and it was so great!)




Sorry that I forgot to take outside pics, but the place was awesome. Here's a view from just a very short walk toward the water still at our campground, we didn't pay extra for the view but it was worth a couple steps to see this...



See what I mean!!!! And of course I could bore you to tears with all the fun we had but here are just a couple of the things we saw

Whitefish Point in the Upper Peninsula on Lake Superior

and of course Taquemenon Falls, we skipped the lower falls due to a storm...

And these are my favorite views on Mackinaw Island!!!!



I think that's enough for today. I love to travel and see new things, even when they are close enough to home that you can drive there almost without stopping!!! Hopefully we will travel more in the future, after all my family and friends are spread out all over this wonderful world we live in!!!! So happy travelling and I need to hit the couch again really bad... that darn back!!!!

Oy! My aching back!!!

Well, on this past Saturday I helped a dear friend of mine with a garage sale at her late mother's house. I grew up across the street from this neat lady and my friend and I spent so much time together as kids that I knew their house as well as mine, you know that kind of friend? So when she asked for my help I jumped at the chance. What are friends for!!! I got there REALLY early Saturday morning (and I'm not a morning person) and we began to take stuff that she had ready from the previous day's sale and pull it out onto the driveway so it was more visible and easier to walk through. Standard stuff, right? Well, she warned me that there were some heavy boxes and I'm all like "no biggie" and bent over to pick up a tote full of picture frames and wrenched my back. I knew immediately that it wasn't good, but I grinned and moved on. Throughout the day I was getting tighter and tighter and of course I wouldn't say anything because she would feel so bad and I didn't want that!!! So that night and the next day I spent basically sitting around taking pain meds and dealing with it.

So today, Tuesday, it was getting really bad. I had spent the morning with elder son running errands and after about 45 minutes running around Meijer (our fourth errand so far) I was spent. Seriously, bad pain. So I called the chiro from the car and she said to head right over. Eight minutes later I'm hobbling into the waiting area and after just a few minutes they strapped me to the traction table and began to manipulate my spine!!! Ouch!!! But, after probably 20 minutes (longest visit yet) of traction, adjustments, actuator applications and biofreeze, she sent me home with a follow-up appt on Thursday and told me no bending, no sitting in a chair and ice it as often as I need to for the next day or two. Well, I'm just happy that I don't have to work the next two days because it would be hard to do that without sitting or bending!!!!

I'm telling ya'll this because I didn't knit a stitch today and the reason is because it's really hard to knit while lying on the couch!!! I'm dying to pick up my socks and work on them but I CAN'T!!! It's killing me, almost as much as it's killing my back just to sit in the computer chair and type this. Point number 8billion why I want a laptop!!!! I think I could have propped up enough for a laptop at least for a little while today, but alas, there's nary a laptop to be found near my house!!!! UGH!!!

So tonight after watching tv all day and reading on and off between naps, I'm full of energy and needed to be upright for a few minutes. I'm not going to be long, cuz it's hurting again... so I'm off to ice down the back muscles once again... after a short potty break??? If you're as old as you feel, then today I'm 110 at least!!!!!

What a day!

It was such a nice day off today! All I really accomplished was knitting and spending time with my boys and my knitting friends, but that was enough for me!!! I watched movies with the kids, elder son was having a bad allergy/asthma day (well, couple of days) and the two kids and I stayed inside most of the day and enjoyed it. Then tonight was our knit night! We meet up at a local Brew Pub (yummy!!!) and sit outside on the patio when we can, which we did tonight, and eat/drink/knit and share!! It was wonderful as usual and I showed off a couple of new FO's!!! (that means finished objects for those of you who may not knit because I didn't know that six months ago, seriously!)

Anyway, I've been knitting baby gifts for my co-worker friend who's having a baby girl in October and I'm so happy for her!!! So I've come up with this hat...



and since I had PLENTY of yarn left over, I made these booties (sorry for the picture quality....)



And I just know they are going to a great home!!! Now if that baby would just get here to model I'd be REALLY happy!! LOL.

So I know last post I said I was off for a few days this week and I'm so glad. I'm considering taking the boys to the beach tomorrow if I can get the weather and the kids to cooperate. If I can't, I'll go alone!!! Seriously, I live 15 minutes from the most beautiful beach on Lake Michigan (IMO) and I haven't been there but once this summer. Such a waste!!!! Of course, if my back doesn't cooperate... we'll see.

Ok, so here's what else I was working on for myself today....



I'm calling them my Pink Lemonade socks. Done in a free pattern called Lilypad socks that I found on Rav. It's my first time cabling and it's going really well! Sis loaned me a better cable needle than I had in my own stash (gotta get me one of these!!!) and that's really helping. But all in all, I'm pretty happy so far. My plan is to make me a pair of socks that look like summertime to make me happy this winter when all I can think about is getting some sunshine!!! It's going to be like a little bit of summer in my sock drawer! Amazing!!!!!

Happy Monday everyone!!!!!

So I thought since I had the day off I'd figure out a little more how this blog works. I think I'd like you to know that I've only been knitting since sometime in January 2007, so not very long. I'm not a designer and so far not a spinner or dyer of yarn, but maybe someday (as my sister says!) I'm sure I'll give everything a try. I've been on Ravelry since the beginning of 2008 and I LOVE it!!! It's where I've met some wonderful new people, both literally and in cyberspace, and have learned so much about the craft of knitting and the fiber world in general. If you are at all interested, I sincerely hope you give it a look!!!

I thought that I would show off a few of my knitted items. I will tell you that most of the things I knit come from patterns that I've found for free via the internet. I have purchased a few, but mostly I save my money for yarn and get the patterns for free (and it's legal folks) when I can. That's another thing about my knitting. I'm an equal opportunity yarn shopper. What I mean is, I love LYS shopping, seriously!! But sometimes what I need/want for a pattern is found right at Michael's or JoAnn's or something. I'm not opposed to shopping at those places whatsoever, so basically I'm not what my sister calls a "yarn snob" but I'd love to be. I love all the high quality fibers that feel like melted sunshine in your hands and next to your face, but I also know that there are times and certain projects that a less-expensive yarn will totally do the trick!!!

That being said, the first pair of socks I made for myself look like this....



The pattern is from an actual book (slouch sock pattern by Sandi Rosner, in the book Not Just More Socks) and the yarn is from LYS, namely from Friends of Wool in Holland, Michigan. I fell in love with the purples and pinks, they are my favorites!! Well, so are blues and greens and .. you get the idea. I shopped at FOW because I was told they had a great selection of self striping sock yarn and they do! I had no idea what they would look like when they were done because it was the first time I'd used that yarn and that pattern but I love them. They are not exactly the same, the stripes are slightly different because of how I started the second sock, and I don't care!!! A lot of knitters care about very matchy matchy socks, but I don't. I think it gives them character!!!!! Anyway, just a brag about my first pair. When I can find more to take pictures of I'll post them, but right now I have two pair that are MIA somewhere in my house.

Ok, so on to another topic. I have two sons, as mentioned in the first post. Elder son is such a joy most of the time, but very shy and quiet (most of the time). My younger son is such a free spirit. His idea last weekend was to dye his hair green. Yes, green. Our school colors are green and gold, so he thought about having green hair for the first football game and beginning of school (which starts next Tuesday). So here's younger son with green goo all in his hair....



And here's him after we rinsed....



I think he was disappointed that it wasn't glowing, but alas, he only left it in for 20 minutes. I think next time (yes, we're doing it again) we will leave it in for a couple hours!!!! More on that later....

So that's all for right now. I'm off to make some lunch and shop for buttons before knit night! Later.

Hellooooo out there!!!

Well, I've done it. I've finally entered the blogosphere!! Several ladies I know from Ravelry have been trying to get me to blog, so here I go! Let's just see if I can keep up with them.

I'm going to try and put stuff here about myself, my life, my hobbies, whatever I feel like. If you like it, let me know! If you don't, then let me go (as the old country song used to say) no, but seriously, you can tell me that too. Or you can just pass me by and I won't feel bad. Honestly. Seriously!!!

So. Here's a little about me in case you stumble along this first blog and wonder what crazy lady is making this stuff up. I'm married for 14 years and have two sons. Elder son is 12 and entering seventh grade this year. Younger son is 9 and going into fourth grade. They keep us busy, but they are really cool kids (at least I think so). I work full time at an optometry office which I like. Hubby works third shift so most nights I'm home with the kids and once they're in bed I'm kinda bored. Thus, the birth of the blog!!!!

Ok, so my hobbies are sort of a short list. First, I knit. Second, is music. I'm a trained singer but I don't use my degree (much to Mom's chagrin!) except for singing/playing at church and such. My rock star career just hasn't taken off like I'd hoped, but then no one goes looking for the next great singer at the eye doctor, right??? So much for that theory! The rest of my hobbies pretty much revolve around the family, like watching sports (love football and hockey) and camping and whatnot. The first two hobbies are for me, the rest are a combo for the four of us. Most of my friends are people I met in college and sadly they don't live nearby, in fact they are pretty spread out around the world. As are my family. Other than immediate family (parents/brother/sister types) they are all over the place! So the internet is my friend, and now I'm going to be even more acquainted!!

So I think I'll give this a try for my first post and try a little more tomorrow. I'm not going to promise a daily post or anything, but once I get started I'll get a feel for this and we'll see where it ends up!

Have a great night and I'm off to bed now....