Minnesota State Fair
This is Shelly and me in the Miracle of Life Building. We actually were there moments after a ewe had given birth to triplets. Amazing.

It was wonderful getting to meet Shelly and her family in person. She is a very sweet and kind woman and I am so glad we were able to work out a time to connect. When we went to the building to see the knitting I was blown away by the blue ribbon winners. The fair isle sweater that I saw was beautiful. The crocheted baby sweater was beautiful as well. We have some very talented knitters in our midst.

Shelly and I had some yummy fair food and that's all I will say about that. :) It would be fun if this could be an annual event. I'm thankful that her hubby was able to leave work a bit earlier than usual and was willing to care for Julie and Sophie for the evening. By the way, the girls are so darn cute. If you read Shelly's blog, then you have seen their pictures. Believe me they are even cuter in person. Thanks, Shelly, for the wonderful time.

Tonight we are going to one of the neighbor's houses for cocktails to jump start the holiday weekend. I don't think we have anything else planned, so I am looking forward to getting some quality knitting time in. Hopefully Tom will take the boys to do something fun for the afternoon tomorrow or Sunday. They have been a challenge this week. In my opinion, summer has been two weeks too long. I see no reason why they can't start school before Labor day. When I taught in Albuquerque, we started around the second week of August and were done the end of May. It seemed to work out just fine. Okay, rant over.

I hope you all have a great long weekend and happy knitting!

Where has the time gone? It has been awhile since my last post. I didn't finish my sweater in time for the class reunion, but that's okay. I just have the sleeves to do. I got a bit mixed up and couldn't figure out how to finish the sleeves and didn't have time to run down to YDK
to get help. Cindi is on vacation this week, so I'll catch up with her next week and finish it.

I get to meet Shelly aka The Heathen Housewife.
I am going to the Minnesota State Fair with her on Wednesday. I can't wait to see her in person. We talked on the phone tonight and she is wonderful. It will be nice to check out the wonderful knitted items that have been entered at the Fair. We plan on eating our way through the evening. I will get to meet her beautiful girls too. I can't wait.

The class reunion was so much fun. I got to see many of my old friends and we had a blast recalling the crazy things we all did together in high school. I think that in these past five years, some of the guys changed the most. There were some there that I had to ask if they were spouses or classmates. It was weird. I saw one of my dearest guy friends whom I hadn't seen in 10 years. I got all teary eyed when I hugged him. We had some great times during high school as well as college. I'm glad I went. I was hesitant to go because I wanted to be thinner, but it didn't matter once I got there and saw everyone. We all have changed, it is to be expected after 25 years right?

Maggie and I went to the Nanny Diaries tonight. It was pretty good. I have decided that when a book is turned into a movie, I shouldn't expect too much. I really liked the book better, but we still enjoyed it. Okay, so off to bed for me. I'll post pictures tomorrow of the Packer sock and my class reunion. Happy knitting.

I survived!!

The birthday party is over. The rain just kept going all day but the girls did end up going swimming and they all seemed to enjoy themselves. Thank goodness for heated pools. Some of them decided to have a food fight in the basement. I was not happy at all about that. Maggie and two of her friend's picked it up and all is okay now. I didn't expect that from 13 year old girls. The tie-dyeing went very well and my kitchen survived.(we couldn't go outside because of the rain.) It is a lot to do with 23 kids but it was fun and they were all happy when they went home. Maggie decided it is easier to go to parties than host them. I'm glad, so I'm off the hook for anymore parties. Next year a few friends and that's it.

I'm exhausted so I am going to bed.

PANIC

Okay, so I am in panic mode right now. What was I thinking? Physics and Chemistry?! I am really starting to doubt my brain power. I need to take a deep breath and calm down. I think it is the fear of failing and looking bad in my kids eyes. For all these years I've been helping them with their school work and encouraging them, telling them they can do anything they put their minds to. Now I guess I need to "practice what I preach." I'm a scatter brain....there I put it out there. I am doubting my ability to retain information and then put it into practice. Heck, I go to the grocery store with a list and it still seems like I forget a key ingredient for a recipe. I just need to calm down and take each day as it comes. I'm sure everything will be fine.

It is currently 60 degress outside and raining! What a day for a pool party. It figures. Oh well, we can still have pizza and watch movies. Tye-dyeing the shirts may have to wait for another time. I'm off to get the munchies and pop. Have a good day.

I'm a student....

Well, what does a stressed out mother of three do to relieve stress? She registers for two classes!! Yesterday I registered for Physics and Chemistry. For those of you who haven't known me for very long, this is a strange and scary thing for me to do. I wasn't very fond of science and math in high school. Well, since I want to go into the Ultrasound program, I need these two classes to get started. I figure if I can't handle these classes, then maybe I shouldn't waste anymore time and money to continue with the program. I am confident that I can do this and I really need to for my self-esteem. Being a stay-at-home mom for the past 14 1/2 years has been wonderful but very trying at times. I am not a therapist or doctor and I just can't fix the issues that Grant has. It has been hard to admit that but it is true. He has a developmental disorder and nothing I can do will change that. I'm currently looking for another therapist for him and have to hope that someone will be able to get through to him.

The boys are off to Milwaukee today for a Brewer's game. Maggie is having her birthday party tomorrow night. We are expecting 20 girls:) The plans are for swimming, pizza, and tye-dying shirts. It will be a lot of fun. Maggie has really nice friends and it am actually looking forward to spending time with these girls. Tonight she is going to watch High School Musical 2 with some friends. I will have the house to myself for a few hours. I plan on working on my sweater and cuddling with the pets.

Have a good weekend and happy knitting!

Well, Patrick is doing better. I had to change the bandages and clean the burn last night. Notice the pink wrap. Maggie had this for her knee injury, so it was what we used. Thank goodness for 3/4 length sleeves. :) It was harder for me than him. As I was washing the area with soap and gauze, I kept asking him if I was hurting him. He was so good and told me, "I'm fine, Mom." We got it all cleaned up and put new bandages on. I am so thankful that most of the water landed on the counter top and not on him. This is so difficult to deal with. My own child doing this horrible thing to his own brother. I need to comfort the one and want to strangle the other!! I woke up yesterday and couldn't turn my head at all to the right. Went to see my chiropractor and got some eletric stim on the area and a nice adjustment. I go back today and tomorrow for more of the same. I can move my head now without too much pain. It is amazing how stress affects your body. I couldn't even knit yesterday. I am going to go now and try to work on a sock. Happy knitting.

Sadness.....

I just found out that one of our pastor's is leaving to go to another church. Pastor Mary is more than a pastor, she is a friend. I am going to miss her so much. She taught knitting classes at our church and was instrumental in forming our Purly Gates knitting group at church. She will be a wonderful addition to her new church.

In other news, my oldest threw boiling water at my youngest and we had to take him to the ER. He has 2nd degree burns on his right upper arm. Patrick didn't do anything to provoke Grant to do this, I just don't know what to do with that kid!

I'm exhausted and going to bed. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

Warning....Picture Heavy Post....
Here is a picture of Maggie holding Bruce, last Monday at the hospital. Hopefully we will get up to New Richmond sometime this week to see him again.

This is a picture of the sweater I am crocheting. I hope to have it done in time for my 25th class reunion on August 25.

Here is a picture of my Packer sock in progress from the yarn that Shelly dyed for me.

This picture is of the yarn that I got from Scout. I really love the skein she dyed for me to match Gracie. She is calling the colorway, Kitty. The other skein is for more Packer socks. I know, I am a bit obsessed with my football team, but I can't help it. I love 'em!


We have Patrick's party tonight for his All-Star team. Pizza and pop at the ball field. How fun is that? I don't have to cook so it is a wonderful night for me. Today has been a crazy day running errands so I am looking forward to the party and some down time. I am planning on trying to clean out the basement and organize my scrapbooking supplies and get my yarn stash photographed. I am hoping that my invitation to Ravelry
will be arriving sometime in the next week or two. Okay, I'm off to change some laundry around and get some crocheting done.

I will try and post pictures tomorrow. Where does the time go? Okay, I now have two new family members. My niece had her baby boy, Bruce, last Sunday morning. Tom's nephew and his wife had their baby boy, Brecken, on Thursday morning. Both babies and mom's are doing great. I love newborns!! They are so sweet and smell so good. I haven't seen Brecken in person yet, but hope to this week. He looks adorable in the pictures though. The kids and I went to see Bruce on Monday. He is adorable too.

I am plugging away at my crocheted sweater. I have started a Packer sock and am almost ready for the heel.

I am going to bed now. I am frustrated with my boys and I just need to get a good nights sleep. Why can't they follow our rules? I am going to have to hire a babysitter for my 14 1/2 year old!!! We went to a surprise party for Tom's sister and they left the house without permission. We have told them they are to stay in the house when we are gone, but they don't seem to listen. The bikes will be hung up in the garage for the time being. After an unfortunate text message to our nephew's neighbor last week, we've taken away Grant's cell phone. His behavior is terrible so the t.v. and computer are gone and now the bike. Do you think he'll figure out that we are the parent's and our rules matter? Time will tell.

FRIENDS AND FIBER

This is the birthday girl, Chris. Isn't she beautiful? I'd say she is 50 and fabulous!

Here are the girls from Yellow Dog Knitting with us at dinner. Left to right: Jaci, Sonya, Chris, Cindi, and Dixie. We all had a good time eating and laughing.

Now for the fiber goodness of the post. Shelly
dyed this Packer yarn for me. I also have some coming from Scout.
I have a lot of fans that could use a nice pair of socks this fall. Knowing myself, I'll want to keep them all for me. I think the skein on the right matches my crocs perfectly. I have a sweater that the skein on the left matches with. Aren't they wonderful? I know if you are a Minnesota fan or a Chicago fan, these are not so wonderful, but for me it is pure bliss to look at them!


















My heart goes out to all those involved in the horrible bridge collapse in Minneapolis. I have a lot of friends and family who frequently cross that bridge on a daily basis. What a terrible thing to have happen. It just makes me wonder why things like this happen.

Patrick has a ball tournament this weekend and I go pick up Maggie from camp tomorrow morning. I can't wait to see her. It's been a long week for me, but with the weekend coming up, Tom will be around more to help with the boys.

I'm working away at the crocheted sweater and enjoying it. Packer socks are coming along, so hope to have some good pictures to share in a few days. Happy Knitting!

Happy Birthday, Chris!!

Today is my best friend's 50th birthday!! I wish I could spend the whole day with her, but it's not in the cards. The boys have been a handful this week. I don't intend for this blog to be a place to whine about my kids, but man this has probably been one of the hardest weeks of parenting for me. I know we have spoiled the boys, so we are going to step back and re-evaluate things. For now they will not have tv's in their rooms any more. I know it was a mistake to begin with, and now we are taking care of that. I will not be buying anymore junk food, no matter how much they bug me. It just makes the behavior worse. Okay, ranting done.

I am taking them with me down to YDK
to help Chris pick out some yarn to make a sweater. They can just sit and be quite while I do this. How is that for punishment for three boys, ages 14, 11, and 10?

Pictures will follow later today. The girls from the Yellow Dog and I took Chris out for dinner on Tuesday to celebrate. It was very fun and we had a lot of laughter.