Happy day!!!

I love my Secret pal!! I got my last two packages in the mail today! The first one was at my doorstep when I walked in the house. I brought it in and opened it to find Vogue Knitting - Accessorize, which is an awesome book with scarves, hats, ponchos, socks and mittens. Then there was a cute sheep tape measure, and the cutting pendant that I"ve been eyeing for a while. I was so psyched to see a package for me! Then I flip through the mail, and see a post card. I look closer, to see that it's a gift subscription for Interweave Knits!! My favorite magazine! I'm flying high today! Thank you so much Angela! You made SP6 awesome! I am so lucky to have had great pals in both SP5 and SP6. I can only hope that the ones I spoiled feel the same way (and from what they said on their blogs, I think they did! I came home early to get some work done from home, making power point presentations is much faster for me wtih no distractions. But I think I may just have to look through my new book first... ;)

time to felt.

I finished the strap for my Booga bag last night. Now all I have to do is felt it! I'm nervous and excited at the same time. I'll have to post some before and after pics soon.

Christmas was really nice. We stayed in Maryland this year, which is a first. We've always drivin up to Buffalo and spent the holidays with family. I'm so glad we stayed here, it gave us a chance to start some of our own traditions with Celia. She was so excited to come downstairs and see the presents that Santa left. The first thing she asked about that morning when I came to her room was Cookies Santa and Milk Santa since we had left them for Santa the night before. It was really sweet. Celia loved to open her presents, she kept shouting "OTEN!!" (her word for open). Then we relaxed, and had neighbors over for dinner. And relaxed some more. Nathan got poker chips (set of 600 clay ones) and a poker table top from me and Celia, so we broke them in. I took him for all of his chips. ;) I wish we were playing for money, because I was lucky!

I got some cool knitting supplies for gifts too. My in-laws sent me some pretty yarn, LB suede in this cool green/purple/blue colors, along with size 10 circs and size 3 DPNs- both in bamboo. And my sister-in-law and her hubby sent the 2006 knitting pattern a day calendar. So many neat patterns that I can't wait to try!

SP6

I heard from my SP yesterday and she's ordered my second and third gifts to be sent soon! I'm so excited to hear that her finals are over! I remember the stress that came with finals. She also revealed herself to me. Her name is Angella, and her blog is Katgrrl She seems really cool, go check it out!

And this is the scarf that I made for Heather, my brother's fiance'. I really hope she likes it! I just love the colors of this manos colorway!!








Here is a pic of clapotis, which I'm making from some lovely yarn from Dancing Leaf farms. I fell in love with these colors, they are my new favorite combo.

Yay!

My husband has been looking for a job closer to home. Currently he has a one hour commute in the morning and about one hour twenty minutes at least in the evening- not much fun. And it leaves little time that he gets to spend with our daughter during the week. He had two interviews yesterday, and got an offer today! That was fast. Yay!!

stupid

I just realized that I posted my last post on the SP7 blog. Sorry about that, who knows where my head was this morning. Thinking about the Manos I guess.

I'm weak

I bought a skein of manos a few weeks ago for a gift. I've been looking at it every day, and telling myself...No. You can't touch it. It's a gift for your mom. Well, that went out the window the other night. I grabbed it and started balling it after spending all day at home with a sick kid. I started making a scarf, and I really didin't like how it was coming out. So I frogged it. I started another scarf, but wasn't what I wanted either, so I frogged it again. Then I decided to do it lengthways, instead. So I cast on 100 stitches, and started going. After a few rows, I realized it wasn't really long enough. So I frogged it again. Finally, I'm about 3/4 of the way done with a pretty scarf. I'm going to give it to my future Sister-in-law for a christmas gift. Really, I am. I think. Though the colors are so pretty... No...it's a gift!!! Argh!!

Tagged!

I"ve been tagged by Saun, whom I had the pleasure of spoiling during SP6!

Song Meme

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.

Love- Great Big Sea
Aluminium- Barenaked Ladies
Elf's Lament- Barenaked Ladies
Something Beautiful- Great Big Sea
The House at the Top of the Tree- They Might Be Giants
Birdhouse in your Soul- They Might Be Giants
Airport- Guster

I tag:
The SP7 hostesses...you know who you are!
Anyone else who reads this blog...just please leave a comment so I can see your answers!!

bah humbug

I'm just not in the Christmas spirit this year. You'd think I would be, with a little girl who is starting to get excited about the 'yites' on the tree, and 'Tanta. I'm sick of the cold, crappy weather and all of the shopping (who would have thought those words would come out of my mouth). We are in the middle of a snow/ice/mix storm, which is loads of fun. When I left Buffalo, I left the massive amounts of snow. No more waking up to a foot to brush off the car and go to work. But in lovely Maryland, we get sleet and ice much more often than snow. I don't mind driving in snow at all, it's easy! The ice is what makes me nervous. There is just no control on ice. So I stay home when I can, which means that today when I was home with my daughter (who is still sick), I couldn't go to the store, or target, or anything. I could have gotten some little shopping done for Celia's daycare teachers, but No. I had to stay inside because it's risky. I don't mind driving in ice if it's just me, but when Celia is in the car I hate to take risks.

Anyway, I'm done. I just want New Years to get here so I can put it all behind me. It's my first year away from home at Christmas, and while it's my decision and what i wanted to do, it's still hard. I hate the holidays.

all about me

Thought this would be fun.

TEN random things you might not know about me:

I am a Buffalo girl at heart.
I hate snow.
I hate getting dressed up- I am happiest in jeans and a T-shirt.
I love roller coasters, the higher and faster the better.
I am a hopeless romantic.
I am a chocoholic, especially orange chocolate.
I love red wine.
I have no patience for immiturity.
I have seen Niagara Falls hundredes of times, but it still amazes me.
I'm as blind as a bat.

NINE Places I have Visited

Budapest
London
Brussles
Amsterdam (but only for a half of a day so we could go to the Van Gogh museum)
Zurich
Rome
Florence
Nice
Paris

EIGHT Ways to Win My Heart

Have a warm smile
Make me laugh
Be open to new experiences
share dessert with me at dinner
put up with my crap
Bring me good coffee
Be funny
give massages.

SEVEN Things I Want to Do Before I Die

Watch Celia grow up
Have 2 or 3 more kids
Inspire someone, anyone
see the world
own a single family house with a yard
lose weight!
get a dog


SIX Things I'm Afraid Of

Cancer
bees
birds
Ok, anything that flies at you
not being able to see my daughter grow up
car accidents

FIVE Things I Don't Like

Liver
seafood
Rude people
arrogance
people who complain about everything and don't try to do anything about what's bugging them

FOUR Ways to Turn Me Off

push religion or politics on me
smell like garlic
be rude
have a temper

THREE Things I Do Everyday

sleep
kiss my daughter
kiss my husband

TWO Things That Make Me Happy

holding Celia
cats purring

One Thing on My Mind Right Now

Should I let Celia fuss or get her up even though she needs a nap?

home sick

My daughter is sick. Thankfully it's the first time in a while that she's actually been sick. I took her to the docor this morning and she has conjunctivitis in both eyes, a sinus infection and an ear infection. All she knows is that she's miserable and doesn't feel well. It's hard when she's sick because she doesn't understand what's wrong. She knows that her eyes hurt, and her nose is runny, but she really doesn't get it. Poor baby.

who can you be?

I'm still waiting to find out who was 'spoiling' me. I know that she is a student, and that she sent one package with a scarf and perfume. She said she'd send 2 more packages but I haven't heard anything in a while. I guess I'm really lucky that she actually e-mailed me to tell me she was going to be late in getting stuff out. It's way better than those who got bailed on.

Naughty, naughty!

I left work a little early last night to go and buy a few xmas gifts for friends I'm going to see this weekend. One of them is a knitter, so I went to Woolwinders for her gift. That was a big mistake! I walked in and saw that they must have recently gotten in a stock of Manos de Uraguay hand dyed wool. The colorways are amazing! It was so hard not to go crazy and buy loads of yarn, but I showed great restraint! I did buy a gift for my friend, plus a few things from the sale bin, one of which I needed for Celia's alphabet sweater, a contrasting cashmerino aran for the letter C on the front. The other was a ribbon yarn that I've been looking at wanting to try. Then...I couln'dt resist the Manos. I found a colorway that is perfect for my mom, so I bought only one skein. I haven't yet decided if I want to make something for her and give it to her, or if I should give her the skein to make something for herself. Any thoughts? What would you prefer??

Holidays

With the holiays coming up, I decided to try something different this year- I'm making my Christmas cards. Last night I got together with a friend, and I was able to get all 24 cards completed, while she worked on stamping some gift boxes (which are too cute!). I found some great paper at Michaels, and went to town. When you open the card, you'll find this picture of Celia in front of the tree. I loved it, so I had to include one per card. How I love my girl!!

Dancing Leaf and Kiparoo

This weekend, I met up with some of the ladies from the NoMoCo SnB, and we headed out to do some shopping at Dancing Leaf and Kiparoo Farms. Both raise sheep, and hand paint/dye their yarns. I must say that I was blown away by the colorways and yarns both places had. Everything was so beautiful it was hard to pick the few things that I did! I got a few gifts, which I won't talk about, and some beautiful purple and green dyed yarn that I'm going to make Clapotis out of. I started making a triangular shawl, and got bored pretty quickly just knitting, so I frogged and started Clapotis from Knitty. So far, so good, and I'm LOVING the colors how they are coming togheter.

For those of you who have asked about signing up for SP7, head over to secretpalseven.blogspot.com and follow the instructions posted. We are now accepting sing=ups for SP7!

SP7

I've decided to help host the next round of Secret Pal (SP7)! I have had fun the last two rounds that I've participated in, and decided to give back some. Besides, I like to organize things and this will give me the opportunity to help do that.

We're hoping to get things going soon for sign ups, and SP7 pals should be given out by mid January. This way, with the holidays coming up, everyone who wants to participate will have plenty of time to sing up. It should be loads of fun!