Little to Show

The crafting posts this week have been pitifully nonexistent.  I do apologize. 

So here's what's up in my little part of the world. 

Knitting:  The knitting that I am working on is un-postable due to it being Christmas-y in nature and the recipients happen to read this blog occasionally.   So there goes any cool progress reports there.  I hate this time of year on the blog just for that reason.

Time Waster Extraordinaire:  I got my FREE (free from earning Amazon gift cards from Swagbucks)  Ipod Touch (4th gen.) from Amazon a couple of days ago and I've been sucked into messing with that toy like you wouldn't believe.  I now understand the whole attraction to the Iphones.  I just couldn't see paying the exorbitant prices that AT&T charges monthly for a smart phone.   The best part is that not only do I not pay monthly fees, but I got the whole thing free, free, free.  I love the word free.  :)

Tea Time:  I'm hosting a ladies tea next month and it's causing all sorts of DIY panic around here.  I'll give details on that next week.

So there ya have it.  Lots of stuff going on behind the scenes, but little to show for it.   

More Out of the Mouths of Babes

Yesterday as I sat at my desk I heard a loud questioning "Mom?"

"Yes?" I answered.

There was a pause as if great thought were taking place, then the Youngest finally asked his question:  "Have I been married yet?"  

"Not that I know of" I replied while laughing hysterically.

Then today, I was filling some jars with dried beans for better storage in my pantry.  "Beans are yucky" he said.  "They're not my favorite bean."

"Well, what is your favorite bean?"  Another long paused ensued as he thought about it, then he looked up at me and grinned and said:

"Jellybeans!  They're full of calcium." 

Nutty When Shopping

Am I the only nut out there that goes shopping, sees an item, and says "I can make that!"    It doesn't matter if it's knitted, sewn, glued or duct taped.  If I see something that I like and it looks doable, it becomes a challenge.  I must now go forth, find or purchase the materials, and craft it.  This is not necessarily a frugal habit by the way.

Case in point - This weekend I went shopping with my Mom.  I found a shop that had two sweaters that I found intriguing.  Simple construction, fingering weight yarn and a decent price.  Now instead of buying them like a sane person, I took them to the dressing room and took about a thousand pics of it.  If I had had my measuring tape with me, I would have spent even more time in there taking measurements. 

I really liked this stitch pattern that I found on one of them:

 

Does anyone know what this stitch pattern is anyway?

So there I was snapping pics like a nut.  It would have cost maybe $20 bucks to buy the whole thing then and there.  Did I?  Nope.

Here's where the extra nutty part comes in.  Yarn ain't cheap.  Let's say I went into my local yarn shop and started grabbing skeins of yarn.  If I purchased enough yarn to make the particular item that I was photographing, I'd probably spend upwards of $60 bucks.  Worth it?  Only for the crafty challenge satisfaction.  

Will I do it anyway?  Probably, since I'm crazy like that, but I'll make some major modifications first.  I'm also one of those types that can't leave well enough alone.

A Funeral And Some Strays

The Youngest and I went to a funeral over the weekend in another state.  The day began pretty early.  I loaded the car,  watched the Eldest get on the school bus and then we were on our way as well.  Now the first part of the trip was nothing remarkable really.  It took two hours and ended up at my folks' house in Alabama.  We were there a scarce half hour and then loaded up and rode another three hours to the actual funeral.


Now keep in mind here that I was traveling with an extremely active four year old.  He's not the type to sit in a chair for hours on end and be happy about it.  He surprised be me though.  There was not one whimper to be heard on the entire car trip there. 

Once we got there though, he pretty much exploded out of the car.  This was unfortunate since we walked right to the graveside for the ceremony.  He was hyper, very hyper.  He tried to rush to the coffin and take up all the cool chairs in the front.  I grabbed the little suit and pulled him to the back, far away from the grieving family.

I considered sitting on him, primarily for warmth though, not containment.  It was so freaking cold and windy that day!  I did threaten the kid with just about everything in the book to keep him quiet.  Keeping him still was out of the question entirely.  He finally became preoccupied with kicking and moving around dirt with his dress shoes and I pretended not to notice and most of the solemnity of the occasion was observed.

Observed of course, until two stray puppies decided to come see what all the people were doing out there and Hey!  There's a kid!  They came barreling straight for him, the only one in the crowd their size.  These puppies were about two and a half feet tall once they stood on their back legs and stretched out as far as they could go.

So there I was, trying to keep two incredibly cute pups off of him while keeping him off of them and trying to do everything in silence in respect for the mourners.  Other people hanging out in the back were all enjoying the show and trying not to laugh out loud at the chaos that two muddy puppies and a boy kept cooped up in a car too long can create.  Some help they were.

But it ended as well as could be expected and we shoved the poor boy back in the car and ended up in a tiny little hole in the wall food joint called "It Don't Matter."  Pretty clever little name for a restaurant.  We spent maybe another hour there and shoved him back in the car for another three hour little jaunt back to my parents house.

Would you believe that he never complained, cried, pitched a fit or anything?  Amazing.  He pretty much looked like this the entire day:

 

Smiles and all.