MY LIFE, GONE TO THE DOGS

my life with the dogs

yes stop rubbing your eyes...

sam and sadie are watching a bbc program.

the fact that they are sitting still and watching anything is amazing to me !

sadie had to turn away she knew their was going to be murder....

i loved that they were on the davenport with me, watching good flicks but most of all letting me knit.

puppies are trainable ;)

last sunday i ventured down to a big flee market in denver and came home with this.

how does that happen !

now i knew i wanted a hutch but i thought on sunday i would just keep an eye out for one checking prices. i really went to the market to look at quilts and vintage kitchen items.

{ i did buy an antique crib quilt....pictures to come later. }

i walked past this lovely and thought yes that would fit in my living room and i like the design, but i drove down in a small car { i was 60 miles away from home }. so i thought keep moving eileen you are done casting a glance in that direction.

off i wondered through the market picking up treasures when i found myself back on hutch row. this time i looked at the price

195.00

i cleaned my glasses.

the hutch was pure maple wood in great condition.

i looked at the price again !

now another women was throwing her eyes on the hutch, as she went to look at the price i reached for the tag and took it down saying " i am so sorry but this is sold ".

the following day eric and i drove back to the market with our truck and brought home 

maple hutch ;)

and finally i am making diaper covers for a friend that just had a beautiful boy.

these are so environmentally clean , re-useable, easy to make and just darn cute

maybe i could use them on the dogs, then we would not have to press pause for our outside breaks !

{ the dogs outside breaks, i stay inside }

YARN ALONG

oh how i have enjoyed the holidays,

cooking some fantastic meals that i have even dreamed about

{ gotta wonder what that is about }

lounge around quilting, knitting and reading,

and oh yes movies.

we saw LINCOLN and loved it!

also caught up on all JAMES BOND movies

then watched the TUTORS on New Years as well as some college football.

LOVED IT !

but now it is time to get back into the groove of real life,

WORK ;(

i would much rather stay home and knit, quilt, cook and watch movies ;)

i have added the contrast color to my whippoorwill....

yahoo.

as much as i want to wear this shawl i think i may be sad when it is done,

i have really enjoyed this project.

i know i will be making a another ;)

spent a lot of time reading as well.

TRUE SISTERS was another great sandra dallas book,

{ i think i have read most of her books }

TRUE SISTERS is about the martin handcart company that walked across the great plains to salt lake city.

the company left eastern Iowa at the end of july with push carts that were made of green wood.

the majority of the company was made up of european emigrants very ill prepared for such a trip.

dallas develops her characters so well that i felt as if i knew them personally.

the story is basically in the voice of the women in the company,

their hopes and dreams of a husband, family and a good happy life in zion.

what they found was a lot of misery, shattered dreams , death and sister wives.

i recommend this book as well as any of sandra dallas"s book.

go over small things and ginny

at yarn along.

2012 FINISHES

2012 proved to be a slow finish it up year for me. yes, i did finish maybe 5 other things not pictured 

but over all it was not my usual productivity. 

hoping 2013 i will really get my mojo in full swing. 

i have plans to finish, completely finish 4 projects that have been dogging me for years. yes i have those, actually more than 4, but for 2013 i will finish 4 of them.

also i am planning a huge garden!

wanting to grow 50% of our food this summer.

and i think i will add 2 chickens to the yard.

that is not fully planned out yet but working on it and mr.p.

what are your plans for 2013?

not new year resolutions- 

just plans rolling around in your head.

getting ready for our big family dinner on monday.

putting somethings away so other Christmasy things can come out,

such as the Lenox plates.

they are so sweat gracing my china hutch.

so far i have been non-stressed this year

and loving it.

it is one nice thing about having older children,

we are all far more into the family and friends dinner

than all the hoopla Christmas has become.

all of us being fairly good cooks and bakers,

it is a good 10 lb. weight gain day.

my family is very blessed that we all enjoy each other's company and will spend Christmas Eve and day eating, lounging and laughing.

we will however have one child missing...he will be in chicago with my side of the family

and greatly missed here in colorado.

are you ready?

happy holidays

merry christmas

now it's time to head over to my sister's for the cookie baking day extravaganza ;o)

YARN ALONG

slowly getting through knitting my whippoorwill, 

needed to wind more yarn to complete the scarf.

i find something very satisfying about winding yarn. 

i love the " balls " of yarn

they stack so nicely.

i wish i could fill the table with wound yarn

i think i would leave it on the table as decorations

it seems to me that sitting and looking at a table of colorful wound yarn would be very soothing.

i'm also just finishing up the second pair of boot leggings.

these are a fun knit,

a little fuzzy to start them but after the start nothing but mindless knitting.

a great knit to watch a christmas movie.

reading taproot and zone 4 magazines.

taproot is a first for me and i am impressed with the writing.

i have really enjoyed the article about trees and their age.

it's heart breaking to have any of these old trees cut down.

zone 4 i bought to start the dreaming of the garden possibilities.

never too soon to be planning one's next garden.

please join me over with me
Yarn Along
with ginny

A WEEK AWAY

christmas is a week away and i feel ready !

however....

i keep fighting off ideas, grand ideas of let me make this { insert some crazy project that under good conditions i would need a month to complete }. 

when simplifying the holidays i have more time to think-

more time to think means more time to dream up grandiose projects.

not what simplifying the season is meant for.

i want time to just relax, enjoy and spend time with people that are important to me and my family.

i sure wouldn't mind a little of this either ;)

oh yeah, i need to work on a grateful heart

being content with what is.......

i have a tree ! a very different tree, the first of it's kind to pass over the threshold of my door.

yup, it is a fake, faker tree from china......ugh!

i hang my head in shame ;(.

some years i am so excited to get the house ready for christmas but sadly not this year.

oh i'm excited for our family gathering and christmas eve dinner at the house.

now that is always fun and i love, love us all getting together.

it just that this year i have people on my mind,

people here

people  living in other parts of the country

people no longer here with us...

and filling the house with a lot of bling just seemed..... overwhelming to me.

so i put out a few simple things.

i think after { maybe before } christmas i am going to go through christmas boxes and goodwill decorations i no longer want or will ever use.

i have some mighty big ugly candles down in those boxes.

my hope is by decorating with only a few lovelies it will keep me focus on what i really think is important

people !

people i care deeply about.

{ oh and about that fake tree...

it is small 

was half price

i looked for a live small tree but refused to pay the price,  only to throw it out in two and a half weeks.

i would rather give that money to the homeless man standing at the corner.

[ and yes he did get some money]

so that is the story of how and why i now have a small, very small fake china made tree...

whew---glad i got that off my chest }.

how are you getting ready for christmas?