Thankful, Day 14

Today I am thankful for naps, no necessarily for me, for the kids.  You have no idea how much you will miss them until they are gone.  Destructo-Boy used to nap reliably for at least 2 hours a day, until we enforced the removal of the pacifier by cutting off the tip, he retaliated by cutting off the naps.  I really miss those quiet few hours every day.

Thankful, Day 13

So I should have started this on the first of November, sue me I'm late (probably because I just thought of it, d'oh!).  I want to remember each and every day what I am thankful for and I thought I would record it here, some things are silly, some ridiculous, and a whole lot are simple but here are 1 through 13 in no particular order:

1. My husband, a great guy who puts up with me and all my craziness and has for 15 years now.
2. The smell of coffee, yes, just the smell.  
3. My kids, the little loves of my life, I can't even imagine life without them.
4. Fall, my absolute favorite time of the year, and yes I do realize I live in southern California but we do still get fall (at least us natives can tell the difference without the more obvious clues such as leaves changing color!)
5. DVR's, so I can watch American Horror Story, CSI, Grimm, etc. without giving my kids nightmares or having to hide in my room.
6. My families health, we are all amazingly healthy, knock on wood it stays that way!
7. Dr Demento, because I was sharing some of his albums with the kids yesterday, his humor will always be weird, offbeat, and in style!
8. That I was fortunate enough to be born here, in the United States, we may have our problems but I still feel this is the best place to live.
9. Chocolate, because really, would life be worth living without it?
10. Manual transmissions, because really, driving a stick is SO much more fun!
11. The home I live in, it is ours (well, some of it anyway) and safe and a great place to raise our kids.
12. Warm Vanilla Sugar perfume, because who doesn't want to smell like a big ole' sugar cookie?!
13. Handkint socks, you don't know there is even a difference until you wear them, especially ones made with skinny bugga, mmm, cashmere!

WOW!

Excuse me while I get all tingly and tounge tied here, but this flew over my house today!

 

Yup, that's Endeavor riding piggy back on top of a 747 on its way around the Southland before landing at LAX.   I think I upset Destructo Boy a little when I grabbed him away from his lunch to go run outside to look for it since it just passed by Disneyland and I knew it was on its way to flyover us.  Our neighbor and I chatted for a minute before whe burst out "There it is!"  and we ended up running out in the middle of our residential street to get a nice unobstructed view.  It was amazingly close, following a street only 3 blocks away from us.  

I am so sad to see the end of this incredible period of space history and hope the government pulls its act together so they can get us to the moon again and even farther away, but what a way to inspire all the youngsters who were lucky enough to get a view of this amazing sight today!  I can't wait to take the kids to the California ScienCenter to go see it even closer in a few months!

Ravellenic Games Wrap Up

I didn't challenge myself with a specific technique or a huge project this time, I just completed a large amount of projects in the two weeks, for me at least.  I started and finished 3 projects, also competing in three additional events.  All in all I feel pretty happy with what I was able to accomplish.

The three projects I completed in full were a Tropical Lily top for Lil' Miss, a Milanese Loop cowl for Missus Gordon's Christmas present and a pair of Autumnal Mitts for Chatty-Cathy's Christmas gift.  The Tropical Lily and the cowl I actually worked on while we were on vacation, almost finishing them within the week.  I did learn I can knit in the car on super windy roads as long as I don't look down to much, and wow is the 245 between Woodlake and Badger windy beyond reason!  I cast on the mitts after finishing up the top for Lil' Miss and realizing they would be the perfect way to use up some of the yarn left over after knitting a cowl for a Christmas gift earlier in the year.  They took only 2 days to work start to finish, and I didn't even work them two at a time on one needle!

For the remaining events I competed in the frogging trampoline by ripping out one of my first sweater projects, Scabbard.  It was just too warm and I didn't do well with the alpaca, it made me itch like crazy so the yarn is destined for a cowl neck vest instead.  I also participated in the modular relay by working two additional sections of the Babette blanket that is still in progress for Destructo Boy.  Finally I cast on two projects for the cast on trap shoot, Chrysanthemum Frutescens Socks (that I also got to work as part of the KAL in the Violently Domestic Fans group on Ravelry) and a heavily modified Castle pullover.  I completely changed the neckline to be a scoop shape rather than a boatneck, I am hoping to make the sleeves 3/4 length at least, and I moved the start of the lace to below the bustline.

It was so much fun to have my own goals while I watched the athletes compete, and chatting and seeing what others did on Ravelry added to the excitement.  I am definitely looking forward to Sochi in 2014!

Best Ravellenic Project EVAH!

Yup, I win!  We adopted this fella from the shelter today and are just delighted with him.  Poor guy doesn't even have a name from us yet, Hopefully he will by the end of the weekend.  Kudos to National Cat Protection Society in Newport Beach, they were awesome!

He will be keeping me company as I start taking Destructo-boy to pre-school this fall, sniff-sniff.  Plus, now I feel like a 'real' knitter as I have a fur-ball that will chase down stray yarn balls and eat them as they roll away from me.  Please don't complain about the stray hairs in your holiday knitting, you might not get any the next year!