Getting back into the swing of things...

Back to school and work-where did the weekend go to? Its was damp, chilly and grey...not a very exciting day. Watching the original recolored Grinch Who Stole Christmas cartoon-loved this as a kid. And tomorrow-its December. What seemed to go even faster than the weekend is the whole year 2009.

So this past weekend I made this runner for my table- found the green cloth all cut to size in my stash and had the cut outs already, and though you can't see it well, I put trimmings on the ends, and it really perks up the table a bit. It's not the most artistic item I've ever made, but it was quick and easy, and fun! And, it does what I want it to do, so all is good.

Wrapping up the long weekend

So we are off to do an annual holiday activity today-once Dave arrives home from Home Depot-we're going to get our Christmas Tree. Katie's boyfriend Brian needs to come along since Dave can't lift that much weight yet from his surgery the other day, but he will probably be relieved he doesn't have to pull the tree out of the farm. Will post photos later. Its such a nice day- and who knows when it will get COLD or SNOWY and both of those makes getting the tree a bit more difficult. Haven't fully put out all the decorations yet, did start though. But I have time to get those items up and will admit, the tree is the biggest thing- and since Katie and I did all the moving of the items out of the attic this morning...might as well put the tree up. I'd say so at least.
Above, a piece of art I made on Friday. The writing got a bit smudgy, but, not the worst thing.

Long Holiday Weekend!

Back on Thursday-my turkey before it went into the oven. Oh, the smell that fills the house of roasting turkey!

And then- the delicious bird ready to eat. Oh it was so good.

Me, carving the bird in my kitchen.

And Katie fixing up the table and pouring herself a glass of wine. Dave couldn't have any- poor baby- he was still on vicaden from his Tuesday surgery. getting a bit restless too. Was a quiet turkey day- first time ever home with just the 3 of us, in pjs or sweatpants all day...yeah, it worked nicely.

So here's the weekend-some studio play, some knitting, some tv, out to lunch with my friend Vicky and her daughetr today, the lost few hours of power, Dave getting a bit cranky but getting the generator running for those lost few hours, wind today, lots of wind, doing some Dave shopping on black Friday-winterzing boat supplies and checking out vanities at Lowe's and Home Depot, sewing, finally trying out Donut French toast and doing some other cooking, chilling...always nice for a long weekend but it can't be Saturday night already, can it?

Happy Thanksgiving

Thankful

What am I thankful for-

1) my family- even though right now I am frustrated because I've been out all day and I come home and get bugged about what's for dinner-like I know? Ok, needed to unload that little bit of info so I can feel better- and my friends and all those other great people in my life
2) having a good job that's very stable and I actually like it! A lot! Even though I complain because I 'd love to be home in my studio more- I do really like my job- and I feel like its worthy job and I touch people's lives on occassion
3) my puppy and kitties who are part of my family, but just in case you don't think of the critters as part of your family
4) being able to have some personal studio space and being lucky and blessed enough to be able to have LOTS of toys in it to play with-and having enough skill, talent and whatever else it is that makes me feel successful and pleased with what I do
5) being lucky enough to be able to do some traveling-well quite a bit lately- for fun-with my family-I call it adventure- and life is that!
6) that I am a basically happy well rounded person
7) that I have a great home in a great town in a great state in a great country-and even though my addition is 10 years old and not finished and my house needs some TLC, I still am very thankful for what I have ( I know, it may not sound that way-with all my even thoughs)
8) that I am healthy and my  family is healthy-because really, this is everything!
9) that I know what LOVE is and have been able to love and have been loved...that is really a great thing!

10) that life is special...hard, but special, sometimes its tough to deal with things that happen...but its still very good to be alive and I am lucky for everything I have in my life...Thankful for it!

A couple more pages from my mom's book-directly above here is my mom with her grandchildren-Julie, my daughter Katie and my nephew Josh. And above that, my mom, me and my brother Len. I've done with this page, added a few more words, a sparklely balloon. Some of the people in my family I am thankful for-

must include my love of my life Dave and all those others-like my dad-who isn't with us anymore...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

knitting update

Here's how the knittings coming along-most of the new part was done in the truck Saturday on our way to and from getting the boat.

Home early today as I was off to be Dave's designated driver-he had to have a umbilical hernia repaired-ouch. Trying to decide if I'm ambitious enough to go paint some more flowers in my bathroom since he's asleep on the couch with the tv on- he won't be up to much this long weekend. We don't even know if we'll be going anywhere over Thanksgiving-lets see how he feels.

Books and films

Ok, today I went and saw the movie New Moon-liked it a lot, and since I just finished reading that book last week I need to start reading Eclipse, to see what appens next and to beat that movie which I see opens in June. Plus I want to talk with people about the series.

I also started reading this book other day- and I love her books. Not too far into it but will read it too. This ne is set in Mexico so far and I am already engrossed with her story. I think her novel The Poisonwood Bible is one of my all time favorite books.

And here's a couple of new knitting books I've picked up that I really like. I don't buy tons of knitting books, I want something different, and both of these books are excellent. Of course I like multi-color knitting, and I love fair isle and Scandinavian style knitting. So check them out if you're a knitter.

Oh yes, I need to mention- today is my Grandmother's birthday. had she been alive, she would have been 100. Nana, I know you'll know if I'm thinking of you, and I am, and I miss you dearly.

Sunday scrap pages

When Mom arrived in the  room. My cousin Steve snapped this and sent it to me since I'm standing in the doorway-black shirt. Think I got these pages to something my Mom will like. Why is it we get so nervous when we do something for mom? Won't she always say she likes it anyhow?

The invite- got a bit of shadow where it pops open.

Mom's cake.

I am staying home today- desperately need to clean. Need to work on finishing my mom's party scrapbook too-since the holidays are just about upon us and I have many other things to do. PLus, I have a lot of schoolwork to do too! Tomorrow am going to see New Moon after work with Katie- can't wait- and then Dave has hernia surgery on Tuesday so I'm off that day. Wednesday, afetr a half day of school,  Katie needs to go to the dentist and then its Turkey day- but not sure what we're going to do-see how Dave feels. Did buy a turkey just in case he doesn't want to ride anyplace- or we decide to hang home-if not, I;ll roast the turkey over the weekend and we can eat it all week- I do love turkey. Anyhow, I'm babbling about too many little daily details- here's some scrap pages.

Road Trip Saturday

Just follow the blue line from north to south and then back to NH, that's been my day. Did get a great little boat ride out on the ocean in Bourne, MA and it was a gorgeous day. Dave got his boat- the one he's been waiting for about 30 years to have and he is so excited. years of saving have finally paid off-just too bad boating season is over here in the Northeast. Did enjoy talking with Dave during our ride, did get a phone call into mom and did get tons of knitting done while riding along. The sweater is making headway-but photos aren't loaded onto the computer yet.

Field trip Friday

***

Today was field trip FRiday- took my oceanography class to Harvard's Museum of Natural History. This is one of my favorite museums! Its like a miniature Smithsonian!

1

These are the glass flowers they have on exhibit which look real. They are absolutely amazing!!! I don't know anything about glass working but to get the right glass so it looks like nature and to get the scale so perfect. Wow.

This is a glass sea anomone. The same fatehr son team that made the flowers made a bunch of these glass sea creatures. I hadn't have seen all of these before today.

And they have all these taxidermied creatures-like this zebra in the Hall of Mammals. They have whale skeletons, complete with the baleen hanging from the ceiling.

And a room of vertebrate fossils and skeletons like a coelocanth and a giant turtle shell. This room is the Romer Hall and Romer wrote my textbook in vertebrate anatomy back in college.

****Thanks to the museum website for these photos. Check it out at http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/index.php.

A couple of scrap pages and a surprise

So here's a couple of pages from the book I'm making my mother-photos from her 80th party we had back in early October. The top page is the front title page inside the album-her joke is that she always turns 29-every year (which makes me 20 years older than her-figure that out?) but its a good joke if you aren't anal about the math. The page below is is one I made by stamping the numbers to get the background. My mother's taste runs very austere- and when making these pages its tough- I want to show myself as the artist/crafter to people who look at the book but want it to be my mother's taste since it is for her. Hope this succeeds.

And anyhow- here is my surprise- its very exciting-bought the tickets last night-found the sale deal I was looking for on Aer Lingus-flying through Dublin-the last family trip before Katie goes off to college (or so I say...but most likely since college is so expensive and we are just a working couple-not independently wealthy). Any, February school vacation we are going to explore a new place-Spain-Catalonia -Barcelona. One more place high on my list (but there seems to be a lot on my list... cross one off and add another)

Knitting or Scrapping

Rowan Patterm book the sweater is in and the photo of the finished sweater in the book.

You can see my color choices are a bit different, and I'm using the yarn from Webs, not the Rowan Kid silk. And I haven't gotten too far yet, but since its on size 6 needles and I'm not sitting around every night to knit, am happy with the progress. Its so fun to have a big knitting project again.

Stayed home to sleep and nurse my cold today-not that it was horrible but didn't want it to get that way (and all the people sick at work-eeks). So I slept and took some photos of my latest crafty projects, did a bit more work on Mom's album too and started some more xmas cards-did the stamped part but need to attach them to the card and finish them. But anyhow, whether to show you my latest knitting or some pages from Mom's album-so you get the knitting-obvious from the photos, eh?

Monday Musings

So the TransSiberian Orchestra Concert concert yesterday was excellent and we had great seats-section119, row A, as you can see very close to the stage. Took these photos with my phone-this band has not only great music but an awesome light and pyrotechnic show. Unfortunately Katie was still dragging-ended up in the emergency room thinking she had strep, and they put her on antibiotics even though her quick test wasn't positive-and she's improving but not perfect as of today. I am dragging a bit- fighting something...not sure if I'll make it to work tomorrow-have to get better since I have a field trip on Friday! (Taking my Oceanography class to the Harvard Museum of Natural History). Tonight I have an icky headache and came home and took a 90 minute nap...still ready to go to bed...so many people are sick at school.

So did you check out the new Martha Stewart paper punches? Miss Obsession here- they are great. I need to start going to an addicted to stamps and paper crafts help group...I can't stop and I want to stop. They say writing it down makes your able to do it, or better able to work on it at least.

And yesterday-was gorgeous. Today was nice too, but I was in work and then came home and crashed....

Ah, Monday.

Hope I am not getting sick

Rainy rainy Saturday, sitting in my sweats all day. Katie's been sick about 2 1/2 days with a bad cold (?), swine flu (?), something that hasn't totally knocked her off her feet but has set her back a bit. I have a headache and hope I am not getting it as tomorrow we have tickets to see Trans Siberian Orchestra in Manchester. We went last November and really enjoyed the show, so we are going again-I hope Kate is feeling perkier.

Today I did massive pages for my mom's scrapbook (photos from her 80th birthday party which was back in October), too dark to get any good photos, but I made my way through many of the photos. Not done, but made good headway-what I don't want to be is rushing to finish right before the holidays, and with everything else one needs to do then...places one must go then...so hopefully will have it done next weekend or by Thanksgiving. I think it will be a great Christmas gift for her, since its hard to buy for someone who's 80 and doesn't really need much and I hate just giving her a grocery gift card or money for oil to heat her house, which is really what all retired people seem to be able use. But this is personal and she (hopefully) will like it. My studio is a BIG disaster zone right now-I've got boxes of stamps all over the floor, but that's what happens when you're working away like a busy bee (as the cliche goes).

So I'm heating up some chicken soup from Costco (yummy) for dinner and Miss Sick pants comes down and starts complaining- maybe she is feeling better . Ugh. To the complaining but hope she is perkier. Its no fun being sick. I told her its what we used to call Jewish penicllin and will help us all get better or stay healthy-she didn't appreciate the comment.

Happy Friday!

Can you tell I'm teaching Oceanography? Doing some Friday evening work here- and watching one of the great movies from the 1970's. I remember going to see this movie when I was 14 or 15 and it came out- it was the last movie my mom went to see before we took her to My Sister's Keeper this past summer. I think this film really hurt the shark's reputation, but I still enjoy seeing this. Anyhow, am excited its the weekend...tomorrow I am working on my art...the scrapbook from mom's 80th that I'm going to give her for Christmas, maybe a few other projects. Maybe I'll even take some photos...time to post some more!

Have a good one!

Behind the Times

I am so behind the times. I am reading New Moon, trying to get through it before the movie arrives next week- I did read Twilight before my teenage daughter, but then she ripped past me and read all 4 of these books. Luckily, its an easy read, and I hope to get really far far far into the book this weekend- though I am a good chunk into the book right now. Am also trying to make my Mom a scrapbook from her 80th birthday party last month-its to be her Christmas gift, and right now my fingers are stickly as I was glittering some grungeboard numbers from the front page. Its a start, but another goal for the weekend is to make some headway into that-and since they are saying RAIN Saturday and I have no plans except I'll need to vac the house, sounds like a good day to do all this.

Veteran's Day

I thoroughly enjoyed this day off- I'm ready for some more days off but at least its only 2 days of work until the weekend. As you can see from this photo- need to do some raking, but today I went and did what I wasn't going to do- spend money. Did a bit of Christmas shopping, got a few items I did need like batteries for my garage door opener which had stopped working and then went to this Clothes Encounter sale (its this traveling clothing sale that goes into empty buildings and sells big brand named items for cheap) and got some things I didn't really need but could use and its almost all Chico's brand which was a big savings but still, I am suppose to be frugal this month and I'm not doing a very good job at it with yarn on Saturday (let me justify this by saying I haven't bought yarn for a sweater in several years) and a few items at Barnes and Noble and a few items at Michael's and...so anyhow, slap my hand, though starting the holiday shopping is good.

Roadtrip Saturday

This is the great knitting store I discovered last Saturday. My college roomate from way back when, Lorrie, had been here before, and she and I love to knit-so a few weeks ago she suggested I come down for a visit and then we take a road trip. So we did, and this store is FANTASTIC. Bought myself some yarn to make a couple of sweaters (1 was from the back room where yarn is marked down- a Noro silk garden stash enough to do a sweater all for $60) and then some of their own yarn to make  Rowan sweater- I love Rowan sweaters- though I must admit I wouldn't or couldn't wear a lot of them- but I love their books and I love their design style. Webs own brand is really reasonably priced for wool- around $6 a skein, so even that sweater was reasonable, and you get a 25% discount when you spend $120, which I easily did- went over the budget I did. Right now I am working on the Fair Isle pattern from the Rowan #46 magazine....I haven't done a sweater in ages- been doing more easy knitting- and I must say I am ready and excited to get back into the harder stuff...like I used to be before Katie was born and I wasn't spending so much Mom time...and last Saturday was a gorgeous 60ish day with sun, the perfect day to take a trip from Boston to Western Mass where Web's is, and around Boston where Lorrie lives...I thoroughly enjoyed seeing her and having a great girls yarn trip...must plan another one (at least a see Lorrie day) soon. (and this should explain why I was so stressed out and nothing done last Sunday since we weekend got cut short...though I have the cleanest kitchen right now from my Sunday thought it would take 30 minutes and turned into 3 hour cleaning job)

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Sunday night stress-I am not ready to go back to work tomorrow-no food in the house since I never made it to the grocery store, my computer is down, so hence I am on Dave's, laundry isn't done enough to feel done, never got my grades done, never got some stuff done- plus I'm nervous I have a new class tomorrow and my intern is gone so the one day I need an extra block off I don't get it....AUGH! I hate this feeling and I can't control it- oh yeah-last night my car engine check light came on, my husband didn't wait neither dinner nor going into the hot tub with me...feeling very hurt and  needing a vacation. AUGH!

Falling leaves

Leaves are really down now, its looking like November, mostly bare trees, the lawn brown with oak leaves, short days, and temperatures on the cool side. Today is grey and freezing- well, more raw than freezing, but feels chilly and is dark. Bits of rain spitting and they say snowflakes overnight. These falling leave photos were taken back on Saturday when we lost a lot of them...but it was wildly warm- like 72 degrees.
So here's a temperature question for you- how raw or cool is it in Amsterdam or Brussels in late February? I am going away then-still vacation looking and shopping- I want a realy super cheap deal which I don't think is going happen but I keep hoping...and I really would like to go to the Netherlands and Belgium...well, I'll be honest, I really want to go a lot of places and wish I had months to take a trip...well, I'll be honest, I'd miss my critters too much to be gone that long but still, if I had another week or 2...you get my drift?