The Corona

As I knitted this sweater, I dreamed of fireside lounging with a wine cooler in one hand, crochet hook in the other, random marshmellow smears on the sides of my mouth, kids chattering about frogs, fish and fireflies in the background.

It was a small daydream tucked into each stitch.

The dream unraveled a bit when I tried on the sweater a few months ago.

I suspected I had a body dysmorphic problem. You know, that problem where what you think your looks like in your head isn't what you actually look like.

My knitting needles haven't gotten the memo on my mommy body. Where curves and lovely-for-kitties dough kneading belly are the reality. Not the slim abs and light curves of my teenage body.

It is okay. I'm okay with this body. I'm okay with this sweater. Knit on, I say, knit on.

Rabbit Bites

I cast on this sweater a week ago or so. It is yarn from Sheep Shed Studio, which means the Brown Sheep Mill rejected the yarn for some minor flaw. Which means bargain yarn for me.

The sweater is called Mud Sweater and is found on Ravelry.

So, I slaved away, knitting until the wee hours, snatching knit time between sips of rum and chasing kids, animals and fighting poo.

Jesse brought the bunny in the house.

Bunny bit the sweater.

Sweater had big hole.

I fix hole. Me not happy.

Who cares? The kids will outgrow it in 2 months. I need to knit faster.

Red Granny Shrug

This shrug reminds me of two of my favorite ladies, Grandma Jewell and Mary Lou. Both of them loved the color red and I think they would say I'm rocking the Granny Shrug look.

This pattern was featured on Tangled Happy, a favorite inspiration blog of mine. I immediately fell in love.

Polled FB, polled IRL friends and they all assured me it was cute.

See I do not have a lick of fashion sense, so I didn't know if the shrug was frumpy, humpy, dumpy or hip, cool and interesting.

What say you? Would you rock it?

And last but not least, gratuitous Jesse and Guy picture. He loves her a little bit. She carries him around like a sack of potatoes slumped over her shoulder. It cracks me up every time. The red dot on her eyelid is from a spider bite in September. Those things are no joke.

Here is a picture of a likely culprit. I smashed it soon after taking this picture after finding it in the rabbit room. Spiders are serious business.

Just Ask Bucket List Getaway Giveaway

The NCIS episode last night had Dinozzo making a bucket list while McGee snooped using binoculars from the next desk over. Great scene and it tied in perfectly with the giveaway I saw on Skip to My Lou:

This is my entry in the Just Ask Bucket List Getaway Giveaway. Just Ask offers a breast and ovarian cancer screening and is encouraging people to share 15 things that I want to enjoy in my lifetime as a reminder to be aware of my health. Want to enter? Head over to TodaysMama.com to get the details.

Ever think about the things you want to achieve before you die? Are you morbid and wonder HOW you are going to die? Then you stuff those thoughts back and focus on the here and now present. Here and now present should include striving towards those dreams on the bucket list.

I rarely think big, because life has taught me that the only things that will happen in my life are the things I make happen. Rarely do out of the norm, fantastically awesome events happen in my life. My life has become a celebration of the small things. Slowing time by capturing the everyday happy moments that make this daily drive worth it.

But I'm going to think big, go out of my fear induced paralysis and dream BIG. Here is my list:

1. Go to New Zealand

2. Swim in the Grotto at Playboy Mansion (not naked but if I'm dreaming big...naked)

3. Buy an international vacation home

4. Drive a Dodge Challenger around a racetrack going over 100mph

5. Drag race on the salt flats of Utah

6. White water rafting

7. Drink a $1,000 bottle of wine

8. Visit New York

9. Horseback ride across Ireland

10. Get a massage

11. Party with Reba and Willie Nelson

12. Ride the NASA anti-gravity training machine

13. Learn to play I'm the Luckiest by Ben Folds on the piano

14. Train a rottweiler to pull loads, sleds and small buggies

15. Paint a barn pink



What is on your bucket list?

Iowa Bound

Home of the Hawkeyes! Where people paint yellow and black bird beaks on rocks, mailboxes, houses and barns. Because seriously, people, there are only two things in Iowa, corn and football.

We planned on leaving Saturday at 2am and arriving in Muscatine, Iowa at 10am. I had emailed and texted my uncle a month prior, confirming we were coming. Friday afternoon, I, on a whim, called my grandma and said, "Hey, we will be there tomorrow.". She was stunned. Apparently, Uncle Mark never mentioned we were coming into town. Grandma canceled her plans and assured me she would see me, Jon and the kids when we got there. Love my family. Scatterbrain Uncle Mark, too.

James and Jesse met their cousin, Cheyenne and they became fast friends. On the drive home, all I heard was "Cheyenne was sooo nice. I can't wait till we go back.". Cheyenne is adorable!

But the reason for the trip was this behemoth thing. Back in April, Jesse and I traveled to Iowa for my sister's graduation. During that visit, my Uncle Mark showed my Dad something he had built in his garage. My Dad came and found me, since I was busy making the acquaintance of my cousin Mark and the two Malamutes, Odin and Xena.

Dad said to me, "I think you need to come see this. Jon would love it.". So I went and Mark showed me what it could do. I GASPED. I have never been able to get Jon something that he cannot already make or doesn't already have for his woodworking shop. But this machine, sitting in this little shed, was something Jon had dreamed of having. My uncle said he was willing to sell it to me at a price I could afford. I left with plans to return and surprise Jon with it. All I had to figure out was how to get the darn thing home.

Come October, I knew I would need Jon's help getting it home. So I spilled the surprise and begged him to take a weekend off work and help me get the darn thing home. I had to assure him that it would be worth the trip. So, we borrowed a trailer from a friend, loaded up the kids and went to Iowa this past weekend.

The trip was fast, and went off without a hitch. Literally. We are now proud owners of a CNC router woodworking machine, complete with the CAD program, computer, router and a table on wheels.

I cannot wait to show you guys what this machine will do. The fact that it is a homemade machine, built in my uncle's garage, complete with salvaged parts, makes it fit us and our personalities perfectly. We love homemade, creativity and resourcefulness.

Handy Halloween Pics!

James is eye-ing the Skeleton Man and vowing to someday grow up to be "just like him".

Two brothers running "The Castle". Overheard and overseen, "That was Josh up top, right? The big forehead told me it wasn't you, Sara."

Good times were had by all. I heard "Let's go to The Castle before it gets dark." And random neighbors hollaring out "Tell Jon he did an awesome job" with lots of smiles and thumbs up.

It makes my heart smile that as a community, everyone has adopted "The Castle" as the go-to place to check out. We had several van loads of people come by afterwards just to walk around, shake Jon's hand and ooooo and ahhhh! over The Castle.

Jon is good people. We know a lot of good people.

Hope you and yours had a Happy, Safe Halloween. Much love from ours to yours.

Halloween Castle Video 2011