sherriknits

When I got up this morning, (after a nearly sleepless night…pouring rain on the rv and who knows what else kept me awake…I do remember seeing 4 am.  The part that didn’t stress me is that I knew I didn’t have to get up.  I woke up around 10)  I found this silly boy,

Did you get into the Oreos?  Yes.  Hurray!  He was honest about it.  The other amazing thing is that he only had 1 or 2.  Funny,

Today was exactly what I needed.  I did nothing…and I loved it.  Here’s what I had within reach….

I worked a little bit on my Baby Surprise Jacket….this time using the book with the drawing of how it works.  I am still kind of stuck on trying to figure out how to stripe it, though.  I will probably surf around Ravelry tonight (again) to get some ideas.

I’m enjoying the Jan Karon book, too.  I have so loved the Mitford series and re-read them now and then.  This one is going back into Father Tim’s childhood as he visits Holly Springs.

I also watched mindless tv today.. I Love Lucy, Leave it to Beaver… not much else on daytime tv.

The boys went to the store and brought me a little present,

Delivered with a priceless smile.

During one of the breaks between rain showers, we barbecued steak.  All I did was help carry the picnic table to the least windy location but when I was hearing some singing, I peeked around the other end of the RV to see the little imp in his own world.

He wouldn’t let me get close enough to take a picture of the 2nd big dirty face of the day.  Once in awhile, he actually gets embarrassed about it so I didn’t push him.  He was having too much fun.

And dinner?  Yumm!!!!!

At the rehearsal dinner we had a similar salad…I think it’s my new favorite.  All it is is spinach leaves, thinly sliced strawberries and red onion with raspberry vinagrette.  I am sitting here with the teeny bit of leftover, eating it out of the bowl.  We rarely have fried potatoes anymore, but since I can’t figure out the gas oven because the owner of the rv told me she had never figured it out, I just cook stovetop or microwave and I didn’t feel like nuked baked potatoes.  We’ve been buying Western Sizzler steaks occasionally and they are really good. Hubby bought a new tabletop bbq (about every 3 years we spring for a new one) and it is great.  He can even soak wood chips and put those in a little place just for that. 

I heard on tv today that the movie 27 Dresses came out on dvd and I’m thinking I’d like to watch that this week.  We may head to town one of these days if I decide to get dressed.  This is a week of sweats only as far as I’m concerned.

And that’s my life today!  I just need to figure out if I want to read or knit right now. 

Technorati Tags: food, knitting, littleimp, vacation

Tags: my life

After yesterday (I swear I didn’t even walk more than 200 steps yesterday), we feel a little more rested. 

We decided a few months ago that after the wedding we’d get away for a few days.  Our friends generously let us use their RV so we decided if we only drove a short distance, we could do that cheaper than a motel room and all I wanted was to stay somewhere for more than one night and to do nothing unless I felt like it…in other words, veg out. 

Can’t beat winter rates of $15 a night!

I did have bookkeeping to get caught up for my real job and then accidentally realized that I needed to do my quarterly taxes for the yarn shop so it was kind of a crazy day getting things done.  We were finally ready to leave at 6:30 pm after grocery store, meat market and fruit stand trips on my part.  Hubby had to seal the roof on the RV because it leaks (can’t find the leak) and do some maintenance and wrap up a few things at his job, too.

We stopped at Wallyworld and he ran in to get who knows what….was in there  f o r  e v e r  and then we finally headed out, however he did make a wrong turn in the parking lot and we ended up having to drive out of our way rather than turn it all around, too hard with the Jeep following us.

About 45 minutes from home, we suddenly heard a huge bang and bump and next thing we know we are really riding rough.  We pulled over and hubby got out to find a flat tire.  The blowout was so loud that 3 different guys came out of their houses and one of them was across the street and way up high on a hill.  He started hollering to us…asked if we had a flat tire and said he knew the guy who owns the tire shop in this tiny town.  He called him, then came down to help us.  One of the other guys said we’d be fine to drive to the tire shop so we had to make a u-turn on the highway (yikes!) and the first fellow led us to the tire shop, limping along at about 15-20 mph.  He was really nice.  After an hour or so, we were on our way again and almost $300 poorer.  ouch.

I decided there is nothing I can do about it and God allowed it, what we have is His so we just move on.  I’m too tired to worry about it anyway.

We got to our destination at 10:45 or so and it took another forever to get parked in our spot in the dark but the park manager helped us get in.  By us, I mean hubby, I sat in the dark with a sleeping boy and played monopoly on my palm pilot and listened to a book on my iPod.  Before it got dark, I was actually reading a real book….Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon and it is just what I need, lighthearted reading.

I had no trouble connecting to the wi-fi in the park (my only request for where we stayed) but hubby had quite the time with his…and just carrying it from the bedroom to the front of the RV, he managed to hit a button which turned the display upside down.  He was having a very frustrating time trying to look at the screen and figure out what to do so I got online and found the answer…this is the 2nd time it happened and the first time we had no idea what made it right itself.  (control-alt-left if you ever have it happen).  Is that a Dell “feature” or windows?  From what I read, it was a windows thing but I’ve never had it happen.

I never thought once to take any pictures today so I’ll show you a few more wedding pics and hopefully tomorrow I will get out the knitting and return to being a knitting blog….maybe.  I might become kind of a grandbaby blog in a few months.  But knitting, yes.

Here’s a little look at how cute the lanterns looked on the table.  Love those lanterns…we keep hearing how great everyone thought they were.  Did I ever mention that for food we did popcorn and italian sodas?  It’s a fairly inexpensive way to do something really fun and people seemed to like it.  The wedding coordinator called me today and said she heard people commenting on how cute it all was.  We got sparkling cider for the wedding party for the toasts, but I think they liked the sodas.

The sis giving her toast.

Another look at the shrug … notice that the groom never seems far away from her.

I just thought this one was funny because the little imp, aka junior groomsman, was intrigued with the signing of the license.

And back to the rehearsal, … he is standing on his mark and seems to have something way down in his pocket.  He does incredibly well when given a job, though…he went right for his mark and stood tall.  Today I heard from so many people (my brother included) that there were tears galore when he walked us in and proudly walked out.  Kleenex was coming out all over the place.  I have to say I am mighty proud of that boy and we had a lot of fun talking today about all of it.

And now, to bed.  It is after 1 a.m.!  but I don’t have to do anything tomorrow that I don’t want to do!  Yea!

Tags: my life

Ok, I was so wiped out this morning that the little imp and I stayed home from church.  Here I sit with my heated wrap on my shoulders (thanks, Bunni!) and my feet up on the ottoman.  I posted pictures on my sidebar but I thought maybe I’d try to tell a little bit about the days now.

I heard several comments about how when a daddy is excited about making it the best day for his daughter, he got all kinds of things done that the church needed fixed in general.  This is my hubby’s area of expertise….besides being worship pastor, he is also gifted in lighting and audio, but I hate seeing him on this huge ladder all over the room!

I wasn’t any more thrilled to see the groom balancing on the edge of the platform.

I’m just so tickled at how well the things all pulled together.  The bride did such a great job planning what she wanted, simple but very sweet.

We grew grass in buckets and made flowers for weeks and weeks.  They were a huge hit, as were the lanterns….we had so many people ask what we might be doing with them afterwards.

We sprinkled the aisle with more flower cutouts and then the little flower girl sprinkled more as she walked in.

Practice went well, everyone was so amazed at the calm and the sweetness.

poor daddy had a rough time, he loves his girls so much.

We had lots of fun with the popcorn..

We bought flavored popcorn from the local popcorn shop…the bride had purchased pink m&ms at Valentines day and then we also popped regular with a borrowed WhirlyPop….I gotta get one of those!

Big hit.

We had prime rib at the rehearsal dinner served in the fellowship hall by the best caterers in town (also good friends….and she is a fantastic knitter besides!)

The groom’s dad was his best man and I missed getting a picture of the presentation because I was crying too much, but his dad presented him with a sword as a “charge to keep that 3-stranded cord of Jesus as the center of their marriage”….it was so sweet and the groom took it very seriously.  To hear these parents talk out their love of our daughter was incredibly wonderful.  Our families are blessed.  The groom’s mom and I shared a very long hug and tears, tears, tears.

The big day 

Our son’s girlfriend did the hair, the maid of honor did the toes.

My niece-in-law did the simple bouquet for the bride and put together the handmade flowers for the bridesmaids.

The photographer was really sweet.  She told me she loved this wedding, that the bride and groom were such a joy and the whole atmosphere was such a blessing to her.

Here’s big sis, matron-of-honor, getting her into her dress….can’t you just see the bride’s lightheartedness?

The bride chose to wear the pearls my Grandma gave me when I was in my early 20s, they are one of my biggest treasures and someday they will be hers.

She was so happy to see her brother all dressed up. (I missed getting  a picture of the first hug because I was a little teary-eyed)

The groom waited at the altar so they could have a special moment just the two of them. (and the photographer, lol)

Then the 3 of them left for pictures . . .

Gosh….what can I say?

Very possibly the next bridal couple.  I’m so proud of my kids.

We all went to the park for pictures…here’s two silly, happy girls trying not to get windblown.

And the bridal couple arriving.

Gotta rest for a second, but can’t wipe the smile off the face!

Our happy family

One of the few shots I dared to take.

The groom’s youngest two sisters got pulled in a wagon by his youngest brother…they were supposed to blow bubbles but they got a little scared.  They were so cute.

Cutting the cake.

She wore the shrug even though I thought it didn’t really go with the dress…she asked if I was mad to see it on her because she loves it.  Yes, I’m crying.

My 3 girls.  I feel bad I didn’t get many pictures of my little mama-to-be….I took a record number of blurry pictures.

The bridal party…

We put the strings of lighted lanterns on the table, it was so beautiful.

The guests.

The son and his sweetie.

I’m happy, I have cake.

Sisters.

The big sis did a very sweet toast to her sister and new brother, it’s so wonderful to see the love.

These socks aren’t handknit, but they are crazy!  This was the keyboard player who is a long-time family friend.  I told him to behave, he had a pistol strapped to his leg but I never did get what it meant…some joke about a sharpshooter. 

And then my camera battery died.

We sent the couple off, had tons of help cleaning up and 4 1/2 hours after the wedding started, we were on our way home with everything done but cleaning out hubby’s office and the conference room.  We wanted to meet the out-of-town family for dinner.

I apologize for the multitude of pictures if you have dial-up but I just wanted to re-live the day. 

And what comes next?  Baby knitting!!!!!!!

Technorati Tags: wedding

Tags: my life

I cannot even tell you, but I’m sure you can imagine..how tired I am.  I am way too wired to go to bed, but the day is done and all went well….I mean, really well.  I can’t think of one catastrophe or even one thing that went wrong.  If it did, no one told us.

The happy couple did such an awesome job of it all, they wrote their own vows and they were beautiful.

The little imp was a huge hit, he walked in the grandparents and me and he did the greatest job of it.

I will tell more later, but I will just say it was all I had hoped it would be and more.

Pictures in the sidebar, I can’t figure out a better way to do it right now.

Tags: my life

Picture heavy post…all wedding related.

We went to the church at 10 today and we came home at 9 pm.  Busy, busy. 

The little imp spent a lot of time hanging out in the pastor’s office doing spelling and drawing lessons..

Then he moved to the youth pastor’s office (his brother-in-law)…

See the Easy button?  He must have pushed it hundreds of times.  They have one in the main office, too, and the receptionist said he pushes it every time he walks through the room…I asked if it bothered her and she said the smile makes it worth it. 

And what were we doing?

Those babies took a long time to put together.

These are tinier ones and they were a much bigger pain to get popped out and the wires inserted.

The groom worked most of the day at this.

And the imp did lend a hand.

And then entertained us awhile.

He talked into the live mic but of course when I tried to take his picture he got a bit of an attitude.

Lots of activity in the conference room….

The fruit of our efforts.

And then the bride got a surprise….this friend attends college in New York and wasn’t coming home until Monday, but she managed to get released early from obligations because she pleaded with the Dean of Women to let her come home to her good friends’ wedding.  She is our son’s girlfriend’s best friend and she surprised her by picking her up from work tonight when she was really expecting our oldest daughter to pick her up.

And then we headed home. 

 All I wanted to do was come home and watch one tv program but I got home late and got a phone call in the middle of it so oh well.

We’re back at the race tomorrow, but we got a lot done and hopefully will get some down time tomorrow before the rehearsal dinner (prime rib by the best caterers in town!)

Technorati Tags: wedding

Tags: my life

No pictures today and actually, boring for anyone but me.  I just want to post for the record so when I ever look back I’ll remember these days.

We’ve been getting our hair cut and foiled.  Dad brought the Little Imp in to get his hair cut while my hair was processing.  Oh my gosh, have I ever regretted not having my camera after that experience.  They have never seen anything like it.  Hubby was curious but the imp was scared scared scared.  He would not come close, hid behind Dad and kept tight hold to the back of Dad’s jacket.  He was the first to get a hair cut and it was so cute.  His big brother’s girlfriend does all of our hair and he’s so good for her.  It used to take 3 of us to cut his hair before she came along…and we feared the police being called because he freaked out so badly.  Literally.  We used to do it on the deck in plain view of the neighbors so they could see we weren’t abusing him.  It actually makes me cry for how awful it was.  (showers, the same)

Well, while Dad got his hair cut, the Imp stood as far from me as he could.  At least by then he’d talk to me but when I asked him if he’d come over by me, he put his hand up like a stop signal and murmured “uh…uh…uh….NO!”   It was comical and he did relax after awhile.

Yesterday, the bride got her hair cut and foiled and she is adorable.  She ripped a nail off so we treated her to acrylic nails.  I had mine done yesterday and she went today.  Then she got to go get her facial that her sis and I purchased for her as a shower gift.  She’s just glowing.

Her bachelorette party was Monday night and the girls made her the sweetest scrapbook with pictures of themselves with her as younger kids and memories of time spent with her.  Of course, I cried…as I have all week. 

After she got home from all her pampering, her dad and I headed to Olympia to Cash n Carry, Costco and Party City to get what we need.  The guys will go to get their tuxes tomorrow.  The girls will be decorating and everything else.

I’ve been falling asleep early and waking up extremely early for me…this morning I was awake before hubby’s alarm went off at 5:40.  Here’s a good one.  I had to come down to the restroom earlier and I must have been dreaming about my dress not fitting so I worked hard at not waking up all the way and tried my dress on to assure myself it was fine (it was) and hung it up on the tv cabinet (not sure why) and went back to bed and back to sleep.  Everyone wondered today why my dress was hanging there with the jacket inside out.  lol

We got the little boys’ tuxedo shirts dyed pink this week and they came out great.  The wedding colors are pink and brown and the Imp looks adorable in those colors!  Tomorrow I better remember to buy him shoes.

Ok, much much much to do tomorrow so I’m off to bed.

Technorati Tags: wedding

Tags: my life

In a week it will all be over.  I have so much running through my little head right now, so many details to think about.  The little imp’s tux is altered and safely at Auntie’s house so he won’t be tempted to put it on.  (it had dirt on it when she took it home because he’s put it on more than once)

He has been doing his job almost daily:

He gets so intent on spraying the grass that he missed his favorite person in the whole world coming to pick him up.

Oh!  There’s my dad!

The grass is going to be on the tables.

Last Saturday it was 80+ degrees here, very unusual for us.  This Saturday?

Snow!

We didnt’ get any more than this, but places not far from us got 6 or more inches!  We have no idea what to expect for the wedding…hot, cold, or anything in between?

Friday night, we ate in the car on our way out of town for our date.  This gave us extra time so we drove out to our favorite place…it was cold out but the sun was shining and the climbing rose vines are looking pretty good…someone has already been taking care of them.

We watched a sailboat for awhile and then drove to the bookstore.  We’re both so tired but we really needed the down time.  We read for awhile and drank coffee and decided to head home early.  While I was returning my book to it’s home, some friends of ours showed up and we ended up having a party because after we’d been there awhile, the mama and papa-to-be showed up, too.  We had a great visit and it was an hour and a half later when we finally headed home.

Hubby told me that while he was waiting for me to come back, he could have laid his head on the table and fallen into a serious sleep.  He didn’t want to get up and walk around carrying my purse.  It’s funny how you can revive when people show up.  They hadn’t expected to find us anywhere around but we said it was our last time to play before the wedding.

We hit snow on the way home, not sticking but wow it was really coming down.

Since this IS a knitting blog…here’s a sad attempt at something.

Another burp rag and the latest Simply Knitting and toy that comes with it.  This is actually kind of cool.  I don’t know if I’ll actually use it, but it’s a row counter.  Does anyone else love getting the toys in the magazine?  I’m excited for next month’s…a little clear bag with 3 holes in the top for the yarn to feed through.  I actually do use the knitting bag I got from them last year.

And now, I am going to try to take a nap.  It was a tearful time during church today…as the bride-to-be sang two songs during worship, I started thinking about the fact that her childhood is over, next week she’ll be married and she’s still my little girl.  Then I got even more overwhelmed over the fact that my kids have all found such wonderful people to share their lives with and we are so fortunate.  All 3 of those coming into our family love the little imp and will be willing to take an active role in his life.  Can’t beat that!  They were good tears I cried, but it is an emotional time and I do hope I make it through this week.

So, not sure when I’ll be around, I’m sure at least once in the coming days.

Technorati Tags: blessings, wedding

Tags: my life

Haven’t really been sleeping well so I’m not sure I can pull my thoughts together.  I’m not stressing at night about the wedding, but I think I am more keyed up than I realize.  We’re on the countdown now!

Yesterday, we had to have the little imp try on his tux so his auntie could do the alterations needed.  This all occurred while she was working and he refused an help getting everything on.  What do you think?

He won’t get away with no help on the big day. 

I have to say a big thank you to Susan!  I won her bloggyversary drawing and yesterday I got this in the mail!

Every knitter needs a little journal to stick in her knitting bag and I am due for a new one so that is where this will go.  I love, love, love journals so I will enjoy this one a lot.  Thanks so much, Susan!

Today I had an interesting experience.  I had to revisit a very painful part of my life.  Looking back, I can see some very good things coming out of it, but it was difficult at the moment.  You know what is good about having to go back and face something that is very hard to look at?  You can measure whether there has been healing in the time that has passed.  I was happy to see that I have indeed made a lot of progress in my emotions and I found some very good thoughts buried in the midst of the pain.  I have worked hard to get to this place, still haven’t “arrived” but am definitely on my way.  I don’t like circumstances to dictate my feelings, but they often do.  It’s nice to know I am at peace and to know, also, that I have good friends around me.  Tonight, I rest in the gratitude of that as I continue to sort through my thoughts and emotions so I can actually journal (somewhere else) what is going on inside me.  It’s like the thoughts are floating around in my head and I need to grab them and put them together in a way that I can make sense of it all.

To end on a happy note, I got to read the little program the bride and groom put together  for the wedding and it was so sweet.  Wow, it is really something to know that your little daughter will only be living in your home for a few more days and then will embark on a whole new life….leaving us to wonder how this all happened so fast.  It didn’t really help when she said to me the other night, “You know, when I pack to leave…I will never come back to live here again.”  Even she realizes that might not have been a wise thing to say to an already emotional mom. 

Technorati Tags: blessings, friends, littleimp, wedding

Tags: my life

I was so excited to win the Baby Legs drawing over at Just RK’s blog.  They came yesterday and they are cute, cute, cute.  I explained to the little imp how it came about that I got them (did he get it, I doubt it, but I still talked to him about it)…and then I let him give them to the new mama.  She was excited, she’s heard about them.  We loved the colors she got.  She didn’t open them because they are doing some major moving around in their house and didn’t want them to be out of the wrapper.  I wanted to touch them but oh well, soon enough.

(hmmm, maybe I need to knit something to go with this!)

We had sunshine the other day!  It’s been so cold and yucky here (rain) but we had a few nice days and the little imp had to be dragged out of the house to enjoy the sunshine.  He started playing with his shadow.

Technorati Tags: littleimp, baby

Tags: my life

It’s starting to get a little nuts around here, at least in my mind.  It will be nice when it’s all a pleasant memory.

In the knitting world, I finished my sock a few days ago.  The second one will just be on hold until after the wedding, I won’t want it until next fall anyway 

But I have to have something to keep my hands busy so I am now making Baby Genius Burp Rags and they are fast, fast, fast and totally mindless.

The top one I’m not thrilled with but it is the colors of the bedding she has.  The bedding is cute but I think it doesn’t translate well to the burp rag.  She can just fold it in the room and it will make more sense.  The other one I knit at least twice in my start and stop knitting.

I thought 40 stitches seemed too wide so I knocked it down to 30.  I got halfway through the yarn and decided that denial wasn’t making it any better, I hated the way the yarn was pooling so I went back to 40 stitches and I like it better.  I wanted to make a bunch of these and I do hope she’ll use them.  These new moms seem to think green and that’s cool. 

Tags: my life