Fun with Yarn

Tomorrow, my dad is coming over to watch the Peanut for a couple hours so I can go meet a couple of friends for coffee, adult conversation, and knitting. I have been looking forward to this all week. If someone had told me back in the days when I listened to Ratt that I would someday be all excited about getting up early and sitting around a coffee shop doing yarn crafts, I would have had a good laugh. But I'll tell you, I can't wait.

For my first knitting project, I've started on a little hat for Daphne. It's looking kinda sloppy, but I guess it's OK considering I have no idea what I'm doing. The friends I'm meeting are pros, so I hope to get some tips.

In non-craft related news, it snowed here today. But it was just that lame really wet snow that melts as soon as it hits the ground. This weather is crazy. I would wish for spring, except a wish for spring is a wish for summer to be closer.

It is the last day of January, and I failed once again to make a pie.

PS. I still sorta like Ratt.

Pictures by Request

Please visit the The Peanut Gallery if you are interested in pictures from recent blogs.

That link doesn't seem to work, so you can use the one under "Links" on the right.

The Obsession Continues

Last weekend, I went a little nuts. On Friday, my parents kept the Peanut all day so I could clean my house and have some TaraTime. OH, how I needed some TaraTime! It was great. After I cleaned, I busted out my sewing machine, cleaned it up, and made a t-shirt dress for Daphne and a head-band thingy for me. The headband is something I saw last week at Urban Outfitter for like $16 and thought, I could make that. So I did. I have a lot of problems with the wind because of my hair, so every time we go for a walk at the lake I complain because the wind blows my hair into my face and it's a big drag. And I'd wear a hat, but then I'd have hat-head. So I needed a headband. I tested it out at the Arboretum on Saturday, and it worked great. Anyway, then on Saturday and Sunday, I crocheted myself a green mini-pancho (officially called a "capelet"). I was pretty happy with how it came out, and my mom liked it so much she asked me to make one for her. And did I mention I am teaching myself to knit? So, you see, I am officialy insane now. Poor Kev. I think he is worried I am going to start knitting him dorky sweaters. He hates sweaters. I don't know...maybe it is some kind of mommy thing making me want to practice domestic arts all the time. Whatever it is, I'm having fun.

The baby is doing great. I took her to a play group yesterday at my neighbor's house, and she had a great time. If I can learn to relax a little and let go of some of my germophobic angst, I will have fun too. The other moms were nice and there was soup and cookies.

Kev is recording a cool song. His new bass guitar and his trumpet are really making a difference in the sound of the PPHPHB. I can't wait until he is ready to record a song that features the melodica. He should do it soon while I am in my groove.

There are a whole bunch of robins in my back yard. Very unusual.

Thursday Shout Out

Thanks for the new hat, Grandma!

(If you make this picture bigger, you can sorta see her little teeth coming up from the bottom.)

Embroidery is Fun!

Here is my second embroidery project: a western-ish bird shirt to wear next time I go to Fort Worth. I haven't ruled out stiching on the back, or maybe even BeDazzling it a little, but I need to think about it. Perhaps I should stick with a "less is more" philosophy when it comes to embellishing my clothes.

Anyway, if you want to do something that is REALLY easy and very relaxing, this may be the craft for you. I recommend the book "Sublime Stitching" by Jenny Hart if you're interested. It's on Amazon, and she has a cool website - you can Google her.

This One's for Blair.

Tula and her two chicks!

Dr. Mike says it's been a good year for the chicks in the colony. I am happy to reprt that Tula and her babies are doing well.

Attempting to Blog...

I haven't blogged in forever, and I reckon I won't get much written now, but I'll try. The Peanut is napping, which never seems to last very long. Usually just long enough for me to make my lunch, but not eat it, for example.

In a nutshell, here is what's going on:

Daphne is getting her two bottom teeth. She has been ever-so-slightly crankier than usual, so it hasn't been too bad. She was having a little trouble sleeping, but that seems to have stopped. The best part of her teething is that she keeps us entertained with funny teething faces like the one in the last picture. Otherwise, she is doing great and is getting big and is more and more fun to hang out with every day.

For Christmas, I got some cool DVDs, including Sesame Street Old School which is episodes from the first few seasons of Sesame Street as well as classic cuts from the show. They are GREAT, and for some reason, the Peanut loves them. We can actually sit down and have a nice meal these days as long as we put her in her seat and turn on some classic Sesame Street. You can see in the first picture...she is absolutely glued to the tube. She gets really excited when Bert comes on (she has a Bert puppet) and starts squealing and sitting up straight. It's funny. I also got DVDs of the Electric Company, School House Rock, and Rocky and Bullwinkle. This is great because maybe it means I will never have to watch Dora or the Wiggles or whatever else the kids today watch. (I'll admit, I don't mind Curious George though.)


I have become obsessed with arts and crafts. My latest endeavor is hand-embroidery. I made this little bird t-shirt for Daphne last weekend, and I'm working on a sort of western-style shirt for me. I am also attempting to crochet a sweater for Daphne, but I am not too sure it is going to turn out looking much like a sweater. We'll see. I have discovered that there is a whole sub-culture of people out there who like to make stuff. They have clubs and get together and make stuff and have lots of fun doing so. I bet none of them have 7 month old babies though. Speaking of babies, guess who just woke up. Her nap totalled 18 minutes. Sigh.

Will try to blog more later. Hope you are all doing OK and having a good New Year so far. I'll leave you with a funny teething face photo. Please enjoy.

Here is a Tip

If you get an iPod for Christmas, put more than 24 songs on there, because you will get tired of those 24 songs really fast, even if they are really good songs.

Here is another tip: Listen to a band called The Trust (formerly Herbie Hinkle Ensemble) from Louisville, KY. They are really great. I am not just saying that because my cousin is the drummer.
http://www.thetrustmusic.com/music.html
"Taxi" is the song I like best. It is one of the 24 songs on my iPod.

I pretty much never have time to blog lately. I will try to blog more.

Big Kid Blues

Yesterday, the Peanut decided to haul off and stand up while she played with her piano.

Her grandma is responsible for pulling her pants up so high like an old man.

New pictures on the Peanut Gallery for anyone interested.

I am Cool

Because I have an IPOD. LarryFeathers gave it to us for Christmas. So far, it has 24 songs on it. The first song I put on it I bought from iTunes. It was Eminence Front by the Who because it is a great song that always makes me feel happy and motivated. I didn't want the whole the Who album that it comes on, so it is good that you can just buy one song. Today, I listened to the iPod in the car because LF also gave me a thing for my tape deck that you can use with iPods. It sure was better than listening to the crud they play on the radio. (My car does not have a cd player).

PS. I don't really think I'm cool. But my iPod is.

No More Christmas

Well, the holidays are finally over. I hope all of you had a safe and happy Christmas/New Year. We had a great time in New York with Kev's family. I think the highlights for me were hearing Kev's dad sing at church, and the whole family watching Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas, and seeing the Peanut get to know her daddy's family better. She was so good on the trip. Now that we're back, I have to entertain her on my own. I'm afraid she's in for a little post-holiday let-down.

Usually, I have post holiday letdown too, but I don't think I will this year. Yesterday was Chritmas-tree-taking-down Day, which usually makes me cry, but not this year. I am glad to have the living room back and most of the clutter picked up. Friday, I am letting the baby spend the day with G-ma and G-pa while I clean the house and cook up some delicious jambalaya.

I am hoping that once I get the house back in order, I can find some time to play with my Christmas presents. I have so much fun stuff to do, just very little free time to do it. I've been working on figuring out all the features of my camera, so there will be new pictures on the Peanut Gallery soon...maybe tonight after dinner I can post some from our trip. I have sewing projects to do, more t-shirts I want to make, bird songs to learn, and...guess what...Kev gave me a BeDazzler! So I have things to BeDazzle too. You better watch out if I'm your secret Santa next year!

No New Years resolutions for me this year. I decided to quit trying (and failing) to be some kind of Super-Mom, and just do the best I can, and enjoy my little baby, because she is not so little anymore. We've already had to retire her Gymini and her baby bath tub. She keeps saying Dada, and today, she pulled herself up to standing at one of her new toys! It goes by too fast. I will say that the good part is that she is SO much easier to deal with these days. The meltdown is a very rare occurence.

OK, time to go do something productive while the Peanut naps. I am looking forward to everybody getting back into the habit of blogging.

Oh yeah, in NY we saw a cool hawk, and it even snowed a little bit one day. No snow in Dallas after all.