September Month-n-Review

Pictures are a brilliant thing, never have I enjoyed taking pictures as much as I do now. Between digital cameras, my children and our four legged furry buddies there is just so much life to capture. So I thought it would be neat to create a hodgepodge of photos at the end of the month that just about sum up the previous month.



The first picture is pretty much self explanatory, it’s scary, amazing and immense amount of pride all wrapped up in that one photo. Tomorrow actually will be her first day out on the real road, she’s been practicing in our subdivision mostly.

The second picture is from our crochet group meeting, Richard (Margarita’s boy bits) is making Emma a doggie toy. I do believe that’s his first attempt at a stuffed toy type project. I’m sure by the next meeting it might even have its second eye :)

The third & final picture is of my youngest daughter doing what she does best with her puppy Gwen, snuggle time!!

Have a great weekend,
~dani

ps...here's my progress thus far on joining the f'ugly blanket

Time, meds & good old fashion sleep

Those three items are the best cure for the common cootie bug I seemed to have caught over the weekend. While not completely recovered I'm at least feeling alive enough to actually do something today.

One thing I learned...did you know that sometimes when blowing your nose for the one-millionth time you can feel your tear ducts open slightly with each blow. I was totally freaked out by this little discovery.

On the crochet front I am one square away from completing all my crazy squares for the Lion Brand Crochet Sampler. I hope to bring it with me to crochet group tonight so I have the support of others while I attempt a new joining method.

That’s about it for now, happy hump day!

~dani

My monday

I felt this coming on Sunday, but I didn't think it would come to this.



My cure, theraflu in my favorite mug, a wee bit of white trash tissue for blowing my nose (I ran out my super soft tissues earlier) and the Monday night Steelers game. Although currently (10:01 pm) it doesn't seem the Steelers game is really worth watching unless you like a tie.

**edit 10:09, even worse Baltimore winning...now I'm just going to bed :)**

On a brighter note, this is a great sign that cooler weather is on its way here to sunny Florida.



We seem to get the most glorious sunsets when fall is approaching.
Well wishes would be most appreciated, I so don't need to be sick.

~dani

will not be defeated

When I first started this blanket I knew I was taking a risk using stash yarn, not only because it limited my color choices but what happens if I run out of yarn? When my daughters settled on their color choices it was even more apparent that I better have enough yarn, none of the skeins had wrappers -- there is a lesson there I'm sure.

So moving forward I started crocheting, all was well until I came to this final square of the yellow series...



My original layout looked a little something like this.




I thought the effect was pretty neat, the diagonal was going to look great when I joined it in black. Jess thought it would resemble stained glass, I would have to agree.

This weekend we tackled re-arranging the layout. I only had 4 yellow blocks now. It was Hannah, our resident artist who suggested that we put the yellow blocks in the corners since we only had 4 of them & that a square has 4 corners. Wow of course that makes perfect sense now.

So after setting the corners to yellow, Jess said we could still do the diagonal in the middle and this is what she came up with. I think the girls make a great team.



I only have 3 squares left to make and then I'll be trying a new to me method of joining called Flat Braid. I hope to have it done this week and then I'll return to another afghan I seemed to have abandoned several months ago ;)

~dani

F'ulgy Sampler update

I started this afghan with a group on Ravelry a couple weeks ago. Here's my lastest progress pic, I've actually completed a few more of the squares than shown but I'm only updating the pics as I have another row complete.











I wasn't sure who was going to end up with this blanket but Hannah has shown a real interest in it so it may very well end up with her. I'm sure it will find a home.

~dani

"I promise it's not alive"

A statement my daugther made before showing me her front yard find.
Children are such fun :)
It's a cicada by the way.

~dani

Who pays the bills, tell me that

So during my routine of rounding up my children from school today I was listening to talk radio, an addiction that I try fulfill as often as I can. One of the presidential candidates (for now no naming names :}) was holding a rally and I have a question.

How are you (us) planning on paying for this...

"I will also create the jobs of the future by transforming our energy economy. We’ll tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power. I’ll help our auto companies re-tool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in America. I’ll make it easier for the American people to afford these new cars. And I’ll invest 150 billion dollars over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy – wind power and solar power and the next generation of biofuels; an investment that will lead to new industries and five million new jobs that pay well and can’t ever be outsourced

And now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every child a world-class education, because it will take nothing less to compete in the global economy. I’ll recruit an army of new teachers, and pay them higher salaries and give them more support. But in exchange, I will ask for higher standards and more accountability. And we will keep our promise to every young American – if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford a college education."

I fully agree that all of these issues are vitally important and indeed need reform and/or attention. Again I ask who pays for these increases. I'm not naive enough to think that either candidate is going to run on "no more taxes" idealism but what is the point of whipping up the crowd to near frenzied state? This by the way is another pet peeve, the clapping, whopping and hollering after each and ever statement.


On a side note of my soap box I just had an interesting phone call with a dear friend in Georgia who sat for nearly 20 minutes in a line at a gas station to get gas. Apparently GA is running out of gas?? What?? Is this really a result of Hurricane Ike and if so why is not happening in other states? I did find stories of shortages in TN and NC, odd so few states affected.

That is all for now, hope to post a few pics of my afghan progress later. A much lighter post to be sure.

~dani

ps
Tracie's beau is waiting to hear news on a new job, please be thinking of John :) Good luck John we're praying for ya!!