Names

Awhile back, my mother-in-law gave me the letters to the girl's names and pretty paper to decoupage on them. I've had them done for some time and here they are. On Anna's it looks like I missed placing some on the edges, that was done of purpose. I painted the letter a purple color, then tore the paper pieces and glued them on. Right now it's sitting on some furniture in her room; however, I may hang them as Grace's looks cool the way it's hung up.

And here's Grace's on her freshly painted white walls. (Got rid of the hideous green, finally!) Sorry, Grandma, but the bluish/greenish paisley didn't really match anymore, so I found a blue western print that goes more with her quilt. She said she would have preferred flowers on her name, oh well!

Jeremy and Grace are out ice fishing with Grandpa Y and Uncle Wade. I just got a text of Gracie holding a big ol' trout with a big ol' grin on her face. We might have to fry him up for dinner.

Got our tidy sum of a tax return back. Jeremy wants to get himself a 2 man pontoon boat...but I have it earmarked for paying off some credit cards. Got that done today and it feels SO good! Only a few more things to go before we pay off everything but the mortgage, so there you go Dave Ramsey....

I *finally* got my nook to connect to our wireless internet at our home. Come to find out I was using the wrong password string. No more sitting in the parking lot of Sierra Trading Post using their free wi-fi and downloading books!

Babies

I just have to get this off my chest.... A girl I knew in college just had a baby. As college roommates and sorority sisters we were inseparable. We have grown apart as we are miles and miles away from each other now. I will say I haven't always kept in the best contact and emails are far and few between. Anyway, she had a baby about a week ago. I found out through Facebook and one of our mutual FB friends that she'd had a little girl. I have yet to actually hear from her saying she had a baby. When I had my first, I called her from the hospital hours after delivery.

A week later, her brother calls and we were asleep and I didn't make it to the phone in time. He got my number from her and was calling to 'officially' inform me of M's birth. So it's upsetting to me that she can't even sent out a mass email saying I had a little girl on such and such a day, her name is yada, yada, yada. And then she gets her brother to do it. I thought we were pretty good friends, but if she can't even inform me of this joyous news, I almost feel a what's-the-point attitude toward her. I do truly miss our friendship and can't say that I'm not the best at keeping up with her, but.....

And now that's off my chest.

And the snow is starting to melt :(

Monkey backs and dog feet

There're rumors that a coworker's wife is pregnant. Since I started the tradition of giving baby quilts to those lucky babies, I figured I ought to check my stash. Only one quilt and it's very definitely 'girly'. So I tried to make this one as gender neutral as possible. I backed it with flannel with little monkeys on it. It turned out better than I was thinking.

There are days at work where my 'mouse' hand just freezes. There was one of those days last week, so I decided to knit up a handwarmer. After googling to see how to knit up a basic one, I whipped this one out in about 4 days. I only made one as I don't need one for the left hand. I'm kind of excited to wear it...how silly is that!

We're been getting snow on and off for the last 4 days. Since the ugly 4 letter W word hasn't been blowing, it's been so pretty out there....softening all those features and making it look like winter again.

We were coming down the driveway from town yesterday and Ace was hung up in the front yard fence. His foot was tangled in the top of the chainlink. After disentangling him and much licking on Ace's part, Jeremy checked it out and determined it didn't need immediate attention. Ace seems to be just fine today. Hopefully this will stop him from jumping the fence. However, that doesn't seem to be the case, as I found him outside the fence when I let them in for kibble this morning...oh well. :(

My latest obsession is knitting socks lately. I have a pair on my needles and one on my sock loom. I may restart the one on my loom, because I think it's too big around. I've been scouring the internet looking at sock patterns and blogs and techniques. I just wish I could whip them up a little faster.

Nook, nook, nook

I got my nook last Thursday. It wasn't supposed to ship until mid February, so I was pretty glad to see it! Unfortunately, I'm having trouble connecting with our wireless, so that's kinda bumming me out. I went to Barnes and Noble and had no problems there....now I gotta find some whiz who knows what I'm doing wrong. Anyway the covers are pretty expensive, so I whipped up my own this afternoon. It turned out not too shabby, if I do say so myself. It's lined and has some batting to make it nice and cozy, and has a flap to keep it in there.

Here's the *finally* finished quilt for our room. I made some matching pillowcases. I tied it in the corners and the center of the 4-patch. And the backing is just some plain ol' muslin. Sure looks better than the 7 year old yellow and blue beast that was on there. Blue, huh, must be a theme, LOL!

I found the girls in the bathroom today. Anna had her pants off and Grace was "teaching" her how to use the potty. The diaper was still on and both of them were standing up, but it was entirely too cute....Grace teaching her sister something important, like how to use the potty!

January in review

I noticed it's been nearly a month since I last posted....wow, how time does fly.

I'm nearly done sewing the binding on the quilt for our bed. I don't mind hand sewing the binding on, but these big quilts seem like the binding is neverending! Then I'm off to sewing a baby quilt. There's a baby due in my department in April, or so I hear, and all I have stashed away is a girl quilt....I'm trying to make this one gender neutral, but one doesn't realize how hard that is to try to stay away from blue and pink and not have it too "girly."

Jeremy and Grace have been ice fishing fanatics. This last weekend, they went to Boysen...fished Friday, Saturday and part of Sunday and nary a bite....nothing. I guess some bait was missing, but they never actually got anything out of the ice. I woulda got bored and came home way sooner.

I made some curtains for Grace's room, let me rephrase that, I remade some curtains for her room. The one before you had to roll up and tie and it never got opened, so I made some that part down the middle. I used ribbon to tie them to the curtain rod. They match her quilt....way cute! Now I need to repaint the 2 horrid green walls. It was one of those it-looked-good-on-the-swatch-but-not-so-good-on-the-walls color.

Ever feel that you're the only one at home that gives a damn? Toys and the junk from ice fishing weekend are strewn about the house. I'm trying to make dinner with a screaming child that is hungry, get a load in the washer, pick up toys, clear off the table....while another adult is putting new line on his tip-ups....eh, seemed a little uneven to me....