Tuesday, June 27, 2006

 
how do you spell stupid?
today i spell it s-a-r-a. my son, his wife and my 3 grandbabies will be moving in here by friday for a month or two. he will be an assistant manager for les schwab soon but he doesn't know where and of course their house went before they were ready. i am a pack rat- jeff and heather are pack rats. i have spent a week cleaning out just my stash room.it was an absolute mess! i would be embarrassed to have norah and goldi come play in my stash. but that room is clean and ready for 2 of the babies. the closet is packed to the brim with rubbermaid but it will work. jeff and i will be moving out of our room into the family room. the family room used to be a 2 car garage so that gives you an idea of size. it has the door to the fenced back yard for dog access. we have a weight machine, 2 computers with large desks, one recliner, one swivel rocker, one huge hide a bed couch, a large tv and a half bath...all jeff's computer parts and a ton of stuff from my stash room at the moment..............somehow we need to make room for our bed and 2 dressers out here. right.................. *sigh*......since there is no closet out here we will use the coat closet.............which is full of....you guessed it....winter coats, hats, raingear, boots,etc. so all that has to be moved. *big sigh*. the kids are bringing their freezer over and it has to go on the back porch...can you say trailer trash........lol. no worries i have two days. oh yeah the stupid part........i was reall y craving a seafood salad tonight ( it's been way over 100 for a few days) so i ran to the store. in 106 degree heat........stupid..........jeff had burritos and heather had soup.............they are nuts!!!!!!! anyway i didn't know heather had made her soup, i went in the kitchen, took the top off my salad, went to pick it up, put my finger UNDER the burner she had just turned off. OUCH!! my right index finger. and i have all this stuff to do and it's a huge blister and it hurts.........lol. can't type , can't knit or crochet. my life is over...........lol

Monday, June 26, 2006

 
halfway thru

i had a revelation tonight......they don't come very often so when they do i am always impressed with myself.......as i am working on a second sock, and i start the gussett i realize i am halfway through. turning the heel is my favorite part of socks..i love those little short rows and the little cup it makes.........i know i am easily amused..........socks are made in three parts: the cuff, the heel, and the toe. alot like life............that was my revelation......life is like socks. let me explain my thoughts. i am 49, somewhere between the heel and toe of my life. past the halfway mark i am sure. the cuff(1-30) is a little tough to get going, you have to pay attention to get it right, whether it's your ABC'S, a relationship or a sock, and sometimes you just have to start over, try again and hope for the best. and its pretty easy, irritating but it's fixable and you go on with alot of time to get to the heel. when you get to the heel (30-60) things seem to get a little easier. you have half as much to deal with..........whether this means your children have grown, you've mastered the basics things in life, maybe grandchildren, you now know yourself, you've probably stopped feeling the need to impress others and your priorities have changed. life insurance means more than a night out on the town. a good night's sleep is more important than staying up all night with your friends.......half the stitches to deal with. this part of your life(sock) seems to fly by. days are taken for granted, security seems to be a given, graduations, babies.......this is the best part of life. starting over here is a little harder, less time to gets things in the perfect row, tougher to change and to accept that changes are happening all around you. harder to admit you made a mistake on row 20 and have to go back and try again. maybe it's your sock or maybe it's your marriage.the next step is the gussett......crazy times....suddenly you have 3 times as much to deal with...........children, careers, grandchildren spending the night, retirement....picking up more than you thought you could at this point. you start to be careful.....eat healthy, see the doc, take your meds, eat right, exercise. you start to pay more attention............you know if you make a mistake here it will really be hard to fix.
then we have the foot (60-?)some people get more rows than others. it could be your needles or the size of your foot or even your yarn. hereditary or self destsruction.no one knows how many rows they get until they reach the toe. ah the toe. the downhill part of life/sock. you can see the end get closer but it's hard to predict exactly when the last stitch will be in. the last breath taken. i hope when i reach the toe of my life i can look back, remember every stitch it took to get there and be happy with my accomplishments.
sara

 

here's the uncropped version..............a basket of who knows what's in there that needs to be finished, a pile of mags i am keeping........a box of projects to do while my house is overrun....lol..........and my favorite jammies, ac/dc pants..a fan blowing in the background and jeff's shirt that he just threw at me.....BUT the room for the grandkids is ready........(ok i have a trunk of yarn that i need someone with muscles to help me move out of there yet) but it's dusted, vacumed and shampooed. the closet is full to the brim with rubbermaid....lol.......but the babies have a place to sleep

 

here's one sock...........the second one has been started but since my family has taken over my life right now i am not far. but doesn't this look great? i love the feel

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

 

another view.............they feel sooooooooooo good on....i love this yarn

 

here's my socks ..............i need to put some lotion on my legs..........lol.............but they match

Saturday, June 17, 2006

 

hannah's feet, nene's foot, iggy's foot and MY sock

 

our girls night was a huge success

 

two of my favorite smiles

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

 
i'm a bad blogger
i can't believe how long since i've just blogged without a picture.........lol.... so i'm sure this will be long. first of all, some good news, heather passed her WASL test. for those of you not in washington, 10th graders have to pass reading,writing and math in order to graduate. not science yet thank goodness. her scores were off the charts in reading and writing but she barely passed math. they can take the test up to 5 times but they do have to pass to graduate. she was pretty proud and happy she passed it and after talking to her friends she learned everyone flunked one-two parts of it.....so it was a good day in the brownlee house.....if you scroll down you will see a rosebud sweater set i made. eventually.the pattern could have been written so much better but i figured i've been doing this long enough that it wasn't going to be a problem.there was no guage or size but it was for a baby so i went on faith that eventually it would fit some baby somewhere and look like the pattern. WRONG!!!!!after having to go online to figure the metric hook sizes i thought i was ready to go. first i grabbed a skein of ww instead of baby yarn that was in my baby yarn container. i had the yoke done that night and didn't discover the goof until in the morning. so i frogged. got a skein of baby yarn and started again. and kept saying..man this doesn't look like the picture over and over. had the sweater done and got to the edging instructions. was absolutely lost!!!! ok........i'm not a man, i can ask for help..so i went to crochetchallenge, sent page one and asked for help. and goldi, bless her heart and another big thank you, says, gee sara i think that's an international pattern and they use different stitches than we do. *taking a moment to bang my head on a brick wall here* OMG!!!! goldi is right so i frog again, THE WHOLE SWEATER........assuming that i will be able to do the edging once i translate the stitches..........WRONG!!!!.......at least once i started for the third time it did look like the picture, so i'm thinking all is well. now back to the edging. i have, at this point, decided that the designer who wrote the pattern had more tequila in her when she wrote the pattern than i did while making it. so maybe i should catch up.......no, i don't think i can drink that much and function .........ok...stop reading the whole thing, take one step at a time........finally the light dawns and i get the edging done. now i KNOW i am cool enough to do the matching hat............so the lesson here is to read the pattern completely before you start to make sure you understand it before you start and save yourself untold grief................roflmao..choke .........choke........ gag...like that is going to happen.........ok..........so the REAL lesson is to have friends to turn to when things get rough who can help or at least cheer you on when you fail. lesson learned.
my sweet husband who loves me more than is rational saw an online auction i had flagged to watch, went in, and bought me yarn!!!!! i couldn't believe it. 17 skeins!!!! he knew it was for the babies for christmas goodies. he gripes about my yarn all over the house at least twice a day........lol..........but he is a keeper. and cute too.
today was the annual "have the babies over and make papa something for father's day" day......this year it was a shirt with their handprints and names on it. it is drying now. the babies are 7, 5,4,2,2,1...........the older 3 went pretty well except for painting their names..that was a little messy but it's readable even if the names are bigger than the handprints.........lol.........then the oldest 2 year old, elissa, wanted to do her hand over and over, nene tried to paint iggy, tanner curled his hand and tried to eat the paint so his hand print looks like a box..........lol.......i had paint all over the kitchen, the dogs, me, both heathers, dede...........man it was great!!!! papa will absolutely love it!!!!!
i learned something from the 4 year old today..........clayton...........he will turn 5 later this month. he just finished pre-school. silly grandma asked him if he knew what grade he would be in school next year. and the boy says " oh i'm done with school..........next year i go "in the garden" (translation kindergarten) and pick fruit" oh man i thought i was going to bust myself holding the laughter in. so mom tries to explain it to him and he looks at her like she is an idiot ( he could be right but that's another story) and INSISTS he's going to the garden next year. oh i love these babies.
be sure to tune in often to see the amazing things going on in my life.........lol

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

 

and here is iggy and the sweater set

 

here is the little rosebud sweater set.

 

ok....i had an urge i couldn't control.........lol.......jeff was laughing as hard as i was............spark and ig didn't see ANY humor in playing dress up at all. ig was a better sport than sparky. ig is in the top 2 pics, spark in the bottom 2. this is the hat for the rosebud sweater set. I FINISHED SOMETHING!!!!! yippee

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

 
i have a question for my readers ( all 3 of you)

i keep being told i should write stories. should i? most of my stories are just about being a grandma. would other people like to read them who don't know me? if you think no, i should just write on my blog please tell me. if you think yes would you send one of my stories to someone you know and get their opinion for me? any comments on this subject would really be appreciated. i really think i'm not that good.........i just write with love. and i wouldn't know where to start. or finish. or anything. oh poop.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

 
my last day as the babysitting grandma

heather took her last final at college this morning. of course she will have more to take next year but for now, as this applies to me--no more nene mornings. no more losing every argument with a two year old. no more rocking a precious little one to sleep. no more silly songs and games. poop. no more barney , elmo, dora, or mr. rogers. poop. no more letting her feed the dogs numanums (dog biscuits) or hearing her laugh when ig starts snoring on her lap. no more watching her discover and learn. double poop. and poop again. i will miss her. ig will miss her. but-- as with anything in life, things change. i was lucky to get to spend 4 mornings a week with her for the last 3 months. we both learned alot. i learned that there is nothing better than being a grandma. ok, ok, i already knew that. i learned that there is nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby in your arms. ok, i knew that too. so what did nene learn. grandma is fun. grandma likes hugs and kisses. if you say i love you to grandma she cries. she learned to love a puppy. and to feed him. and cuddle him and play with him. she learned to hold up 2 fingers and say 2 when you ask how old she is instead of 3,5, or 9. that took alot of work on grandma's part. pattycake, chinny chin chin, itsy bitsy spider and how much fun it is to have grandma's finger stuck in her armpit. duh. i probably shouldn't have taught her that but it was better than poop. grandma makes a mean cup of chocolate milk. barefeet are better than shoes and socks and it's easier to play piggies that way. that yes is the only acceptable answer to "are you grandma's baby?" there's nothing better than a puppy licking your face. grandma never runs out of bandaids, cheezit's or cookies. yup, i'm gonna miss her

 

here is my current ghan.............no i haven't worked on the pink one since i started this one. i think i'm sick of pink!!!! the middles again came from a friend of mine. i have such nice friends

 

gee mom, can't a guy get a little nap in?

 

my own bed, snacks in case of severe midnight munchies..................yup, i'm coming back as a puppy!!!

 

mr. ig is finally asleep. exhausted after "helping " me with the squares. i did get them all sorted and in piles of 5 for the rows. i swear this dog can hear the camera and runs to get in the picture. he looks pretty comfy. maybe i'll come back in my next life as a puppy

 

let me help you fix these squares just right!!!! doesn't that look better??????

 

mom, can i eat that ball of yarn over there? it sure looks good

 

is this one for me mom?

Monday, June 05, 2006

 

heather and daisy-- one of her closest friends. can you see the clouds in the background?

 

someone took this of heather at school today. i don't think she is looking forward to school being over

Saturday, June 03, 2006

 

here are the 20 squares so far..this was taken this morning. i will put on 7 colored rounds, then a round of white for edging and the border will be white also

 

a little closer view

 

this babyghan went to a baby shower today........a bit damp but it did get done in time. i used red heart soft baby and it is so soft and cuddly. mom -to-be loved it!!! that's always the best part

Thursday, June 01, 2006

 

thanks to caden i now have 9 new colored pictures on my refridgerator.........after a long session of crocheting it is reccomended by 2 year olds everywhere to slobber the hook up really good for next time

 

here she is again crocheting her fingers to the bone.......lol

 

i got a little bored with this baby blanket so i called in the "B" team for a little help