Long Time No Blog

Boy has it been a while since I have posted anything! Life gets busy, kids grow, and you become involved in so much it seems there us not enough time for everything. With lending a hand in volunteer organizations and schooling the boys, my blog was the first thing to be dropped.

In the mean time I started working on other writing - trying to finish my novel. As usual, though, my fervor for the project lasted through an entire edit of the first 100 pages, writing of two more chapters, and then dissipated.

Now I am back to knitting, working hard on Christmas already, and finishing up baby items for two showers this weekend. Pictured above is one of the baby blankets I completed yesterday.

Stash Project #7: Door Stop

Our front room is the coldest in the house because of the high ceilings, but also because an inordinate amount of cold air flows underneath. My solution this week was to make a door stop so I would not have to resort to a rolled up towel.

This was one of the quickest projects I have done in a while, a mere 30 minutes start to finish. I sewed up scraps of Jean material measuring 6" x 45" into a sleeve, using half-inch seams. You could also use an old pair of jeans, sewing two legs together to make a long enough sleeve.

Now for the tricky part: getting eight pounds of dried beans into the opening at one end. If I had been smart I would have asked someone to help, or used a funnel. Instead I ended up sitting in a pile of beans with several pounds scattered in a five-foot radius. Lesson learned - ask for help, use a funnel. After picking up what doesn't make it in the first time, sew up the end and you are done!

Stash Project #6: Book Cozy

At the beginning of every year I want a fresh beginning, so somehow I end up going through my closets, cleaning things out, and lining up projects. The first project of the year, pictured above, is a book cozy.

With homeschooling, there are always too many books lying around and not enough storage space. The only place left was the wall just above the desk, and I was not about to spend $100 or more on pocket shelving. So I found some canvas that I was going to make a beach bag out of years ago, red denim my mom handed down to me, and set off to sewing. I made two of these four-pocket cozies, hanging one above the other on lightweight garden stakes (only after they were sewn did I find out that dowels were not long enough for the sleeve in the top!).

They are working so well that I am already eyeing other blank spots on walls in the other rooms.

Handmade Christmas

Christmas may be over, but I am still finishing a few things! I have one more pair of socks to complete knitting, which I had to give half done to my dad, my grandparents' gift that they will get when they are back in town, and a baby gift for my cousin that had to be put on hold while I hurried to work on all the Christmas gifts. It is going to be a very busy week!

I made sets of scrubbers for everyone in the family, socks for my mom, dad (though still working on his!), sister and her husband, a cross-stitched picture for my grandma, and hats for my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, with hers pictured above.

As soon as I finish the three aforementioned projects, I am already thinking of what I will make for next Christmas!

Christmas Rush

I have been so busy with The Christmas rush lately that I have ignored my blog for way too long! After baking cookies for all the neighbors and finishing the chocolates for my husband's work (the picture above is of peanut butter cups and pecan cups in the back rows) I only have one more project left. I should probably be working on it now, but slaving over gourmet chocolates - some of which did not meet my esthetic standards and had to be immediately eaten - has worn me out already!

Video Games

Picture this: two televisions set up with video games, a tableful of sodas, chips, pretzels, Twinkies, and leftover Halloween candy, and 15 tweens hollering and running about, hopped up on sugar. That was the scene at my house this week during our Monthly Video Game Club. It is much like an arcade, but in a more confined space.

Somehow my one-year-old managed to sleep through most of the hullabaloo this time, which is more than I could ask for. And though loud, the kids are amazingly well behaved for all the stimuli. That is why every month through the school year I will continue to open my house for 15 kids to play, though only 15 because I don't think I could squeeze any more in the space!

My Adventurous One

With three boys I have learned that they are all different and present their own challenges. My one-year-old has now shown an aptitude for climbing, so much so that in the last few days he has astounded me with his prowess. It started with the dining room table, then the kitchen table. We even turned two of our couches to face the wall because he was jumping off the top onto the cushions, and after falling off he was more proud of himself than ever. Two days later he figured out how to monkey his way up the back of the couch. I overcame this as well by making him wear socks, which are much too slippery to climb the couch.

Yesterday he started climbing the entertainment center to play with the DVD player and sound system. I have no idea what to do about that one. The toilets are locked to keep him safe, but it doesn't keep him from hurdling himself on top and climbing onto the bathroom countertops.

This morning he was making his way up the ladder of his brothers' bunk bed. Surprisingly, he has not been able to scale the baby gates on the kitchen or office, though it may be soon. It seems that nothing is safe in our house anymore.