it's the holiday season...whoop-dee-doo and hickory dock!

ok, so i've been gone a long time....dying blog........

i feel i got some splainin' to do...first, shane was gone practically the entire month of november but for thanksgiving...so i was a little busy with working, being a single mom for the month, and tending to the overwhelmingly needy dog. second, about the third day after shane left, our laptop went the way of the buffalo with a dead keyboard and motherboard.

but now i am BACK baby and it's christmas time! *sigh* i love this time of year! but i've got a problem this year...one that can only be solved by writing a dear john letter....


dear "atmospheric conditions" aka the weather,

you know as well as i do that we have a love hate relationship. but this year, you have been driving me absolutely crazy. to quote my current favorite movie "your mood swings are giving me whiplash!"

thank you for the milder summer. not having A/C can make it difficult to withstand your heat that tends to get bottled up in our top floor bedroom, but you definately made an effort to try and not scorch me so much this year. however, our arrangement has always been that about halfway through september you start cutting back on the 90 degree days and give way to the more balmy ones of 75. you kept your temperatures up to 80 degrees until about two weeks ago. do i need to remind you that it is now december? i appreciate your concern that i did not "get enough fresh air the previous summer" and you "were only trying to help" but - sleeveless tops in october so the kiddos can play outside without getting heat stroke is a bit much. as we are on the topic of not keeping your agreements....you have always gotten either extremely cold or snowed on halloween. while, i will not complain too much about the fact that i didn't have to wear a coat while my little girl did her first ever trick-or-treating this year, i will say that you made me out to look like fool as i told my "new to colorado" neightbor that "of course it will snow on halloween - it ALWAYS does." i do not like looking the fool!

thank you for FINALLY snowing once we put up our christmas lights. it's about time! is that all you were waiting for? our christmas lights? if i had known that i would have put them up in october. stop with the freakishly warm days were the kids in the 'hood think it's ok to wear shorts in december and get down to being winter. i know your "official" day isn't till decmber 21st this year but our NORMAL agreement has always been a flexible date in november when it is clear that it is winter. so starting snowing already and you better stop in march when i tell you! GOT IT! if you plan on changing any of our agreements in the future, i want it in writing first. i am cc'ing this to my lawyer.

yours most annoyed

elisa.

don't say anything...unless...

sometimes i feel like i have nothing nice to say...so i say nothing at all...on my blog...to myself and friends and family, i say all kinds of not nice nothings! so, instead of saying all my not nice things, i thought i would say all the nice things right now.

i am loving the fall weather. though we live in colorado and our fall lasts approximately 2 weeks, and of those weeks there are really only about 5 hours devoted to fall weather each day, i am enjoying the chill! i love sweaters and socks and bundling up. i think i just like to feel cozy. i also look good in fallish colors!

i am too loving all the halloween and autumn decorations going up all over the neighborhood. even the neighbor i don't like too much put up something fallish - so, see she can't be ALL bad then! i have gourds on the front porch, pumpkin spice candles inside, and a bag-o-halloween decorations in the closet ready for our halloween party.

i went to estes park with loo loo and kel bel and have a marvelous time. it was quite possibly the most picturesque day of my life. let me take you there...it was a beautiful drive up - not many people on the road (except once we got into town), bright yellow patches of changing aspens dotting the mountains with hints of not often seen autumnal red leaves sprinkled here and there too. it was the elk festival, so of course, there were a million people out and about. we easily though, thanks to loo and kel's expert knowledge of the area due to a summer/fall of working up there, found a parking spot and a cozy chinese place to eat. we ate delicious food and chit chatted about everything. then we went off to explore the town and the festival. we walked by the river behind all the shops to avoid the hustling bustling crowds as long as possible and admired the houses whose porches hung out over the rushing water. the air got chillier and chillier as we walked and ominous dark grey clouds started to build to the west. we stopped in to a few stores and even bought some touristy shirts - "got oxygen?" we walked and walked occcassionaly stopping to comment on something in a shop window. we finally came to the park hosting the elk festival where there were tipis and camp fire cooking, stations to learn how to make a fire by rubbing two sticks together, racoon fur hats, and lots of mullets and tight wrangler jeans. there was only a half an hour left of the festival so the crowd was thinning. then we saw the wolves. real live wolves! there were two massive wolves in a pen pacing and staring down the gawking onlookers. then came a voice "move back! moving wolves! get back!" and from behind the pen came a man and two women guiding two even bigger wolves on leashes to be put back in the truck. they were terrified with tails tucked and it made me a little sad that this was i how i saw wolves in real life. we then continued on to our favorite estes haunt - a little place only the locals know about - perhaps maybe you've heard of it - starbucks! as we walked down the crowded street, a gust of wind came and blew tiny yellow leaves down upon our heads. we all stopped - blocking the walking traffic - and stared up at the rapidly greying sky with hands outstretched as the leaves fell against our faces and palms. we walked on to get our coffee and made it in just before a rush and snatched up the last table. then it started to rain. sprinkles at first and then not quite a downpour but no longer a drizzle. we waited it out sipping on our cups of friendship and warmth. we moved on once the rain subsided some, but were quickly pushed back under cover and sat for a few minutes outside a local real estate office's overhang and perused the for sale homes that we will never be able to afford. we left our shelter and made our last major stop at the candy apple store and then it was off home. there was more traffic on the way down which helped to bring us all out of our reverie for our perfect fall afternoon and soon we were back in longmont and we'd missed the eastern traveling rain clouds by a only a few minutes.

it's nearly time for christmas music - and that always puts smile on my face!

we're going on a vacation of sorts to visit my family in IL next week. we have one of those rare families that actually all get along with one another and genuinely enjoy eachother's company and don't fight when in tight quaters with eachother - perhaps it is because we only see eachother once a year. nonetheless, it will be 6 days of kickball games, pots upon pots of coffee, hardee's breakfasts, guitar playing, children laughing, home cookin', and love.

ok, that was enough to cheer me up subtantially and forget at least for a few moments that i have not nice things to say too - but i'll focus on my nice things today at least!

google told me so...

so every once in a while i like to do that silly thing where you search google for "'your name' needs" i.e. "elisa needs" and then see what the results are...pretty funny here's this time's results in the order they appear in the search:

1. elisa needs rehab - yikes
2. elisa needs a better icon and logo - what?
3. elisa needs to reflect - probably
4. elisa needs and supports - doesn't everybody?
5. elisa needs a man - yep just the one i already have ;)
6. elisa needs to update - again probably
7. elisa needs to have a framework that is both flexible and dynamic - hmmm true
8. elisa needs a nice bar on the top - ummm a bar on top of what? my roof?
9. elisa needs now - uh...
10. elisa needs to experience beautiful things - i do every day
11. elisa needs to be confirmed by a second method - i don't want any false positives or anything
12. elisa needs to gabe alone - what does that even mean?
13. elisa needs your measurements - huh, i wonder what i am making you
14. elisa needs to be adjusted - yep a good precision adjustment is just what i need
15. elisa needs to shout a bit more - yikes at who?
16. elisa needs to feel safe - maybe i need to feel safe from the person i need to shout at
17. elisa needs to be stored at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius - i like the cold i really really do, but that is chilly!
18. elisa needs less - wait, of what!!!
19. elisa needs to get like a 100 on this final - thank god this one can't be true - i'm not in school!!!
20. elisa needs further validation for quantification purposes - stupid validation process!

well, there you go - google's top picks for what i need :)

life after we booted the tv...

life without tv.............people ask me all the time how life is different/better/worse/possible without your tv - NOT just cable.........the whole tv unit. it's hard to say a complete answer. life is definitely different - no doubt about that. sometimes it is better and sometimes it is worse (but rarely - all the election stuff and the olympics were kind of sad to miss). but mostly it is more than possible and in our lives it was a necessity!

it used to be cute when eisley would yell "dowa dowa dowa dowa" when dora the explorer came on....but when she started to throw a fit if dora wasn't on any channel or it was time to turn off the tv, it was no longer cute. it was nice to be home a lot and watch all kinds of home shows and i get grand ideas of how to organize and transform my house into a home, but when i forgot to do the dishes and mold grew in tupperware containers in the fridge it was not great. it was nice to sit down with my hubby and veg-out before bed with a dumb mtv show, but when we forgot how to have a normal meaningful conversation about something other than what heidi and LC were fighting about this time, it was not nice.

i hated my life revolving around a tv schedule. "oh sorry we can't do anything on mondays because the new hills is on, and tuesdays are out 'cause this other show we don't really even like but we HAVE to watch comes on and wednesdays between 7-9.30 is out because ANTM is on and then we have to watch the new run's house, no not thursdays either, but maybe there's a 2 hours window on friday because it's the off season for....blah blah blah" rushing home to watch some show is not a good priority and i knew this then, but i wonder i stopped caring. but i care now and that's what matters. we might have a "boring" house now, but i don't care we're better off for it. we don't usually do things half way in the beeson house.....all or nothing...we cheat too much if there are loopholes.

so if you click here you'll see how my life was when i first started thinking about what it would be like without the boob tube. and below is a list of what i've done after kicking the tv to the curb:

in no particular order:

• read about a gazillion books.....ok, not really.....half a gazillion at least though


• gotten back into art and my creativity has spiked for the first time in about 4 years


• made new friends


• gone on loads more walks, hikes, and bike rides


• been still and present and not off in some other world


• caught up on household schtuff


• organized


• painted a wall and installed shelves on it


• enjoyed my sweet neighborhood to it's fullest


• explored new spots in my hometown


• played more outside with my boo boo


• learned to be mindful of the task at hand....still working on that one


• learned toooooo much about this coming election- we didn't get rid of internet for goodness sake - we can't be completely shut off from pop culture


• baked more..........a lot more


• read books together with my husband - we read aloud alllllll the harry potters to eachother :)

i'm sure there's more...but you get the idea...life is much much different without the tv!

what i should be doing....

i should be writing a blog about how great it is that we FINALLY got rid of cable and even the whole TV in general....and i swear i will too....after i spend another hour or two looking at cupcake paraphernalia on etsy.com....maybe.....cupcakes are sooooo alluring!

my addicitve personality is acting up again...geeeeez

dear stephenie meyer,

your twilight saga has gripped my heart. i am taken back to my own high school years and can now vividly remember just how electric just sitting next to the boy of your dreams was. the anticipation of first kisses and desperately needing to spend every waking moment with your love. your books grew from teenage infatuation to true love and the ultimate commitment to each other...i relived all my feelings for my hubby before we were married and i thank you....it's always good to remember that amazing spark that starts your own personal love story.

i do, however, have a few problems with you. first, my house work, my husband, my child, my parents, my friends, my neighbors, my dog, my personal hygiene, and my job have ALL suffered some degree of neglect because of you. second, it is very inconvenient to randomly sigh whilst thinking of edward and have to explain/or deny why to anyone who asks why you keep sighing and looking off into space with a dreamy expression on your face. third, along the same lines as number two, giggling like a school girl about a fictional character is not healthy. and last, but not least, you ENDED the saga. now what am i going to do. every other book i pick up pales in comparison. i am lost in a literal sea of books-to-be-read without a single one calling out to me to save me. i have even resorted to re-reading the saga. (it is just as good, if not better, the second time around, by the way) i suppose i will have to live with just talking about them over and over to anyone who will listen.

i like you stephenie meyer, but i am a little miffed.

yours mostly affectionately,

elisa.

p.s. the midnight release party for breaking dawn was amazing...i'm so glad we made "team edward" shirts and beat the crap out of those "team jacob" losers ....not really, but i wanted to...consider this a warning lahdeedah...i know where you live!

the list...

so for a while now i have wanted to write a list of things i want to do/accomplish/achieve in my life. some are epic, some are mundane, some are not even close to being practical

so here goes in no particular order...

• take tennis lessons


• become a master at something/be the best in the world at something


• successfully make sushi


• have my own art show that i am actually proud of


• live in another country for 1-2 years


• look like i did when i got married


• finish the children's book i started a year ago


• start and complete another book i have an idea for


• illustrate said books


• be a better friend, wife, mother, daughter, neighbor...etc


• live in the moment


• come up with an epic life changing original idea


• be proud of who i am


• complete my arm sleeve


• find a job i love that pays me a lot of money


• take more time to volunteer and give back


• get out of debt


• take eisley to disney world/land


• go to hogwarts


• start a project that produces something tangible everyday for a year and record the process - and STICK TO IT and not abandon it after a week or two
• become fluent in german or french

well that's all for now - i'll add more i'm sure - any ideas for me on how to achieve these things - you know where to find me...

fairy cakes...

cupcakes, cuckoo cakes, mini cakes...

perhaps one of the easiest, but most rewarding baking you can do. simple ingredients, simple tools, come together to create an amazing, complex and delicious treat for 12. individual petite cakes - perfect on the go, perfect for portion control - that is if you can only eat one. i'm not talking about the big plastic box you buy at the grocery with day old cake, frosting with a crust and sprinkles still around from your mama's childhood years or boxed mixes complete with premade frosting and years old sprinkles (no offense - i know both are time saving to a certain extent but usually filled with LOADS of perservatives and junk). i'm talking about you and some flour, some sugar, and some milk (soy or cow's) and creating magic in your kitchen in about 25 minutes start to finish. mix it all up, spoon it in the cups and bake them...then, if you can wait till they are completely cool, let free all of your pent up creativity and create a masterpiece that you will be proud to carry around while wandering around your neighborhood looking for a friendly neighbor to share them with.

i made some really good cupcakes last night. i got the book Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World yesterday in the mail and decided that i couldn't wait to make some! i made the tiramisu cupcakes last night (cake was made vegan but i didn't have "vegan cream cheese" nor have i ever been able to find it- so i made normal icing) - let's just say this- to DIE FOR! i sent the remaining ones, after all the neighbors got one and me and shane each had one, to work with shane this morning...so we'll see what their verdict is when shane comes home tonight - they were from the night before so they might not be as good - but still - at 8am who can pass up a really pretty looking little fairy cake????

(i used starbucks coffee liqueur and a starbucks mocha dark chocolate bar for the chocolate curls, and hershey's special extra dark cocoa powder for finishing)

a squashed bug...

dear silver beetle,

you will not be missed. i'm sorry to say it because at one time i had high hopes for you. you were never that shiny, that cute, that good in the snow, that peppy, or that great overall...like we so hoped you would have been. i will not miss your weird sound you made when first turning the engine over in the morning. i will not miss your dents and sad scratches. i will not miss your dodgy tape deck that sometime worked and sometimes didn't. i will not miss having to stamp on the brakes to make you stop or because your clutch caught so high, the many times i pealed out, turning heads and embarrassing me. i will miss, however, your seat warmers. they were one of your few redeeming qualities. i will also miss your sunroof - though i never did figure out how to open it all the way. i never sat in your back seat - i don't think i missed much there though. i'm not sad to see you go. though i must say that it was strange this morning to not see your very uniquely shaped body outside the house.

please be kinder to your knew drivers than you were to us. i don't want to give you a complex - you weren't awful...just not great...and we want great. i'm sorry we took so long to let you know how we really felt about you. we should have dealt with this failed relationship long ago and i apologize for that. we've moved on and i hope you will too.

yours no more,

the beesons.

bee in your bonnet?

yesterday, i had the most horrific, traumatizing experience...


let me set the scene for you...


i am sitting on the stairs leading down to the "park" in our neighborhood holding eisley talking with some of our neighbors and watching our next door neighbor's little girl mia yell at lewy repeatedly to drop his ball for her to throw...'dwop it woowee dwop it dwop it dwop it dwop it!!!!" ( he did eventually 'dwop' it for her ) all is well, the sun is shining, there are even the proverbial birds singing! i decide to let eisley walk around in the grass...yes, she is walking...kind of, mostly, sporadically and only on her terms...all of a sudden i feel/hear a flutter-like something in my ear. i quickly wave my hand by my ear, but feel like the something has flown into my ear or something. i say aloud - "gross, i think a bug just flew in my ear!" i call shane over to look in there for evidence of the supposed bug intruder...he doesn't see anything(this time). i go about playing with the boo boo...then i hear the flutter again - this time definitely IN my ear. "shane, look in there now"...nothing... the neighbors advise me to get a q-tip and get the sucker out, but i'm too afraid to squish it in there or something...minutes go by...i can FEEL it in there now which is even worse than just hearing it!!!!!!!!! "SHANE, look now!" he rushes over and in only a way he could so delicately put it..."HOLY COW!" i of course freak the heck out! "what is it what is it what is it what is it what is it? he tells me to hold still, meanwhile everyone in the park, including the little girl mia, our dog lewy and his furry friend lister, are looking at me with concern.





*graphic content to follow be warned!*





OUT CRAWLS not flies a LONG BUG...let that just sink in for a moment...upon seeing shane it THEN IT CRAWLS BACK IN! 15 seconds later (the longest of my life), it reemerges and shane deftly brushes it off me. i feel like i have bugs alllllll over me (think indiana jones the temple of doom when the lady has to reach into the grimey hole and pull the level and there are creepy crawlies all over her) and i am on the verge of tears - my eyes welled up and i ask "what was that!!!" shane, again so delicately, "oh my god it was an EARWIG!" i nearly threw up right there on the spot! my neighbor denise (lister's mom) says "geez, shane you coulda lied to her!" yeah i really would have liked NOT knowing what exactly it was! you see, i have a history with earwigs......again let me set the scene


beautiful summer day, i am young - elementary school age - and i have just come in from playing outside for something to drink. my mom used to save and wash our straws from mcdonalds or wherever and kept them in the dish drainer next to the sink. i grabbed a straw put in my beverage and took a long drink - something foreign and solid is in my mouth. i spit it out and it was an earwig....so gross...i know check every straw i use - ALWAYS...just in case.


what is up with me and the earwigs???? i'm still pretty freaked out it layed eggs in my ear or something out of a horror movie is gonna happen to me....remember the Wrath of Khan - they killed a guy by putting a bug in his ear....remember Broke Down Palace - she almost died because a cockroach layed eggs in her ear! maybe it's just psychological, but i swear my ear feels different...grossssssssss


i hate bugs ( whimper whimper )

the boob tube

that's it!

i've had it!







i'm swearing off tv for a while...well, after LOST is finished, that is...i mean really, i can't miss those precious few episodes left!


Lately, i've realized just how much mind-numbing worthless tv i watch in a day. let's count shall we...

a. me and the boo boo watch either Lazytown ( crazy icelandic puppet and humans in weird costumes show ) or Go, Diego, Go every morning while we eat breakfast.

30 min.

b. if i am working, then no more tv that morning for me - just lots of internet surfing at work. but if i am at home with the boo boo, then we'll continue watching noggin or nick jr or playhouse disney with bunnytown, wonderpets ( again strange strange super hero pets who only save "baby" animals...weird), or even weirder Yo Gabba Gabba! ( which i secretly LOVE - even though dj lance has to be gay - i mean wow! ), and lastly the most normal of them all my friends tigger and pooh ( where did christopher robbin go and who is darby? )

1-1.5 hrs

c. baby goes down for morning nap, i turn the channel immediately to the either FLN, HGTV, or the food network and allow myself 1 show of home decorating or culinary know how. then i promptly get in the shower.

30 min.

d. baby wakes up, shane is home for lunch and we watch some mind numbing child show again - sometimes dora the explorer is on and it's too cute to pass up when eisley yells at the tv "dowa dowa dowa dowa dowa!!!!!!"

30 min.

e. bye bye hunny! me and the boo boo run and errand or two, go for a long bike ride and then she is down for yet another nap! i empty the dishwasher and then sit down for some "good " tv watching...i'm talking the real world, or america's next top model reruns, more cooking shows...whatever, as long as it is mindlessly entertaining

1-1.5 hrs

f. baby wakes up, shane is home from work. more bike riding or walking. cooking dinner. baby goes to bed we eat and watch MORE tv....we have dedicated tv watching to do: mondays: the hills, tuesdays: tila tequila 2 - i know it horrible, but it's like watching a car crash, you can't look away, wednesdays: america's next top model and the ultimate fighter, thursdays: the office, and lost, fridays: well there's nothing on on fridays but we still watch tv.

2-3hrs

let's add

on the high end ( when i am home all day) : 7.5 hrs!
on the low end ( when i am home all day): 5.5
on the low end ( when i am working): 3.5
on the high end ( when i am working): 5

OH MY GOD! that is disgusting - i am so grossed out! i will say this - i do house hold stuff while watching this, but not enough to justify any of it! ew ew ew ew ew...

we need to get a treadmill badly so i can at least run or do something fitness related while the baby naps!

anyone want to lay off the boob tube with me - after lost finishes in month or so?

imelda?

imelda? like imelda marcos with all the shoes? i'm not sure actually, but sawyer from lost tells me that's what his nickname for me would be on the island.

lost nickname generator

the terrorizing gnome of argentina!

my friend tirzah, "the african beauty", just sent me a link that i think deserves posting. this is why i try to help garden gnomes whenever possible...they start to terrorize people if not looked after properly.

"creepy gnome" terrorizes town

you're haunting me

dearest starbucks,

i realized yesterday after i wrote to you about my unfaithfulness that your presence will always haunt me. yesterday while at the grocery, i saw your face no less than four times. my first reminder of our old life together was immediately upon entering the store. there you were, hiding in the corner tucked away next to the specialty cheese cooler, your gentle fragrance slowly swirling around beckoning me to come to you and enjoy your warm flavor. but i held strong, those times are over between us - we can meet occasionally, but you will not bully me or manipulate me back into a serious relationship with you.

i then passed a cooler of drinks and saw your face again. a bottled frappucino - which i don't like - but i was almost tempted. then, down the coffee aisle. shelves upon shelves of your wonderfully roasted beans calling out to me. my will power held as you tried desperately to lure me back. but then, i went down the snack aisle...a seemingly safe zone from temptations from you. i glanced to the left and there on the top shelf, in beautifully simple and alluring packaging, you were. you were disguised as a mocha dark chocolate bar - i had never seen that side of you before and a glimmer of our old life and a hope for a new future between us was sparked. your scheming ways worked. i bought you and delighted in your perfectly smooth creamy chocolate with just the right hint of coffee and bits of bean. i suppose our relationship can continue a little longer in this new way. but i am warning you that i'm on to you - i know this could be some kind of trap and i am ready to run if i have to. i want to trust you, i do.

your apprehensively,
elisa.

p.s. i truly think it was a sign that i looked left last night as it was your first day of being chocolate too. http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/pressdesc.asp?id=838

update....

so i attended my first knitting club meeting last night.... here's a visual reinactment of the first 20 minutes....

i walk in to borders about 10 minutes late - about twenty ladies have pushed several tables together and there is NO room to join them, so i sit in a comfy chair with my back to them - thinking in my head - oh my god i'm so embarrassed!

so, naturally, i text shane:

me: "oh my word there are a million ladies here and they're all at one huge table with no more chairs. what should i do? i am at least twenty years younger than any of them!"

and shane replies oh so comfortingly "OH MY GOD. did they already see you?" (gee thanks honey!)

me: "well i don't know they're all talking and knitting. i should have gotten here at 6.30 on the dot!"

shane: "can you grab a chair from somewhere else?"

me: "well...i'm in a chair right next to them with my back to them. i'm afraid to say anything"

shane (again so helpful): "oh...i don't know? just say hi or something"

shane two minutes later: "just do it!"

me: "i'm such a chicken!"

then thankfully two more women ( Barbara and Nina ) came in late! i asked to join them and they were super nice! i found out that Nina takes dog agility lessons from denise who also taught my dad and rob! so i knitted with them for quite a while then when they left the main table asked me to join them...wow i felt so cool hahahahahaha! they were all really nice and quite impressed that i had designed my own purse pattern with cables and all! it was actually really fun but a little awkward at first - aren't most good things that way though?

you know you have a problem when...

....your knitting addiction has taken over your house even more so than your 10 month old's toys and various neccessities! here's the corner behind where our two (beautiful green) couches meet and the main dumping location for all things yarn related.

but...from this chaos, has come three very beautiful little things :) first a purse for tess, second a cute little green felted box - completely un-useful, and third a beautiful little purse for emily.

also, i will be attending my first meeting of the Knitters Guild of Northern Colorado tonight. i will be the youngest one there by at least 10-15 years. but, i feel that like in most areas of your life it is wise to have older more experienced mentors around for guidance - even if it is about "just how do i exaclty make a bobble?" wish me luck :)

i DO know how to knit! YES!

i am amazing...yes, i know that sounds totally conceited and arrogant! but it's true! ok, fine....when you're done reading this you'll know it's not really true but i am proud of my "stick-to-it-ive-ness." i figured out on my own with out any special knitting classes how to do cables - i did read a little tutorial online from knitting for dummies but that's not saying anything really! there...see i am amazing. ok fine again, i am not as amazing as i sound defeating this terribly scary monster of knitting called the "cable." because, if you read the previous post, i skoffed at the notion that knitting is only knit and purl. well, it turned out to be quite true. cabling is no more that knitting and purling in a different order than normal and letting the piece do it's own thing. sadly very very simple. here was my very first ever cable -gorgeous isn't it? it then became joined with several other panels to make a completely lucious baby blanket for my good friend's newborn - sorry i don't have a pic yet - but i'll do a photo shoot with the little tyke and the gorgeous blankie later. it may not be an heirloom qulatiy piece - but it was my first attempt and i am quite proud of it!



i am so excited that i actually do know how to knit! i have started on loads of other projects now...purses, blankets, a felted something, and maybe i'll try socks. how oppulent do handmade socks sound? you know they're just gonna get worn out but you still knit them...oooooh it just sounds lovely!

knit, purl, knit, purl... yarn over? what the...?

so as some of you know and most you don't, i know how to knit...and crochet and decorate cakes and pin insects inside a bug collection box and make rag wreaths and all sorts of other arts and crafts...all thanks to 4-H - well i think actually my grandmother taught me crochet but that's beside the point. i have dabbled in the yarn arts for well over ten years - in fact i think i joined 4-H when i was 9 or 10 so probably more like 15 years in the world of yarn and yarn accessories. thanks to my friend down the street lana, i joined a 4-H club and learned that i was to use my head for clearer thinking, my heart for greater loyalty, my hands for larger service, and my health....hmmm what was that last H of health for? wait right there...i'm going to do a little google search...ahh yes, still with me? ok my health (duh) for better living...not just for myself, but for my club (my 4-H club), my community, my country and my world. what a great pledge...i should do that pledge every morning i think! anyways, i never did animals at the fair or anything like that. just meetings about creating memory books and lots and lots of knitting instruction. which brings us to my current dilemma. i read a book called the yarn harlot: the secret life of a knitter by stephanie pearl mcphee - hilarious, but really only if you or someone close to you knits. she inspired me to take up a big project - not just a scarf that i could whip out in an hour or two but a real project with no cheating on large gauge needles! i have endeavoured to knit a blanket...a baby blanket - i'm not crazy enough to jump from scarf to queen size blanket straight off, come on how silly do you think i am? don't answer that. i have high hopes for myself, high high high hopes for this blanket - it will be an heirloom passed down for generations, treasured by all who touch it, all who even catch a glimpse of it! ok, really i just have high hopes it will be straight down the sides and maybe have two colors...maybe. knitting is just two basic stitches (or so they tell you) knit and purl. you put the needle in the loop one way and that makes it a knit stitch and if you put the needle in the other way, well then you get a purl stitch. sounds truly easy doesn't it! well you're wrong. well, not totally wrong, if you just want a flat (think boring sweater flat) blanket with no texture it is super duper easy - back and forth - knit one row, purl one row, knit one row, purl one row...on and on and on.... so why i am in a dilemma? well, first off, since it's been a while since i picked up knitting needles (crocheting goes much faster but you use at least twice as much if not three times as much yarn as knitting) so when i looked at the yarn's suggested gauge of 9, i assumed it meant a size 9 needle - or a 5mm needle. however, i was wrong in my assumption and they in fact meant a 9mm needle or a size 13 needle. BIG DIFFERENCE. i got through a skein of yarn and a half and then shane so politely asked me, "is it going to get looser?" i pulled myself back from the beautiful creamy, wool blend (so it's clothes washer safe - hello it's a BABY blanket it has to be washable) and for the frist time in about 5 hours of knitting take a good long look at it...it is so stiff and tight ( thank you teeny tiny needles) that even as a sweater you couldn't move your arms ... hmmmm what to do - i'm not half way yet, i could start over...oh god. or i could somehow add cables or something interesting and make it just for looks on the side of a crib...brilliant, i'll do that! this is the vision i now began to have in mind for the awe-inspiring blanket:

or not...problem two...remember how all those hours and hours of knitting instruction in 4-H 15 years ago only produced in me the ability to do the only two stitches you are supposed to need, knit and purl? i looked at a pattern for cabling - there are crazy things in there like YARN OVERS, DROP STITCH, CABLE NEEDLE... not to mention that a pattern looks like this - can you read it?

1. Work Row 1 (RS): P4, k6, p4.
2. Work Row 2: K4, p6, k4.
3. Work Row 3: P4, k6, p4.

4. Work Row 4: k4, p6, k4.
5. Work Row 5, the turning row: P4, sl 3 sts to cn and hold in front, k3 from LH needle , k3 from cn, p4.

i didn't think so...now i'm going to have to go a specialty yarn shop and look for a class on knitting because apparently i don't know how to knit after all...whimper whimper

may is national pickle month

lately, i have been drawing pickles. silly i know. pickles playing the piccolo. pickles on parade. pickles can do it all apparently :) i really like my little pickle family that i am creating - it's not by any means world shaking or moving - it's purely fun and mildly entertaining...at least shane and my mom tend to laugh at them. it's interesting to see how creativity flows out of you at different times. right now - everything is pretty light-hearted and playful. in college, most everything in my portfolio held some ideas/aspirations for my life but with sadly depressing undertones.

creativity. creating. out of nothing something comes to life. it's a pretty powerful concept. little old me can pause, think of something elaborate or mundanely simple, use my hands and in some medium bring that small glint of an idea into being. sometimes it's all you held in your head and more and sometimes it doesn't come close to the perfect image you were desiring. sometimes when your hands start to move, the idea morphs into something completely different. sometimes the image you create tells you a hard truth about yourself. sometimes you don't want to know these things. sometimes you're pleasantly surprised and sometimes deeply disappointed in your lack of ability. sometimes you touch people with your art. sometimes you hurt them. sometimes your social commentary isn't appropriate. sometimes it's the only way people will listen. sometimes it's the most important thing you will ever say. sometimes you just do it to be silly.

warm and fuzzy

what does the phrase "warm and fuzzy" bring to your mind? it used to bring images of little kids holding squirming puppies or how full my heart feels when i see a man holding his baby and smiling. those seem like good illustrations of the phrase "warm and fuzzy." and until recently, i held only good ideas in mind of that phrase...

the other morning, after the baby had an uncharacteristically bad night - waking up every hour on the hour - when i finally did get to sleep i was OUT! so, when i felt shane snuggle up close to me, like he does sometimes early in the morning before his alarm goes off, almost pushing me out of the bed, i didn't mind and got that "warm and fuzzy" feeling. "awww my hubby wants to cuddle me after a long sleepless night" i naively thought to myself. now, shane normally moves some so that i can actually pull my arms from the covers, but this time, he would not budge! i pushed and pushed and even groaned "move honey!" but to no avail. he wasn't going anywhere. so i rolled over as best i could and opened my eyes to a warm and fuzzy butt. yes, lewy's butt...not shane's peaceful sleeping face but a warm and fuzzy smelly butt. i was so asleep that shane's alarm went off, he got in the shower and lewy took his place and i didn't even notice. i immediately said very loudly "GET OUT LEWY" to which he, instead of getting out, played a dangerous game of peek-a-boo with his tail and the place the most heinous gasses can emerge. and that's the reason "warm and fuzzy" doesn't always bring good things to mind for me anymore.

he did eventually get out of the bed - but only with lots of brute force and threats of never seeing his kong toy again.