Knitting, Prayers, and a Birthday Boy

Tomorrow is our son Jeff's 24th birthday. Do you have bubbly memories of your births? I remember what I ate for dinner the night before Jeff was born . . . poached fish and spinach! After a long rather uneventful night of lazy labor, he was born early in the morning. Black hair, red face, ADORABLE. He is still so sweet and boyish and continues to entertain us all. He's a reader, a writer, a thinker, and full of faith and love for the world. I am feeling so much mother love and thankfulness for our sweet son!

Do you remember the yarn store I told you about? Well, it is featured in the mysteries by Maggie Sefton. Knit One, Kill Two is the first knitting novel. She actually based it on the owner of Lambspun in Ft. Collins, Colorado as well as the knitters there. Check the links if you find this interesting. It is a wonderful store and I guess people drive up from Denver for classes or to hang around the shop for the day. I actually found a copy of Knit One, Kill Two at school, so I'll let you know how I like it. I'm reading so many books right now. It may be a while.

I found the finished objects displayed in the shop . . . GORGEOUS! Do you like them?

I did manage to sew April's kitchen curtains. She's so nice - she loved them!

Oh, and by the way, the kids at school are fantastic and I'm trucking along just fine. We are reading The Adventures of Ulysses and they are good listeners - they love to be read to. They read on their own while I was in Australia, so they LOVE hearing the story now. We are talking a lot about journeys and stories. What do we learn from reading other peoples' stories? It's fun to think about. They are writing their hands off and really getting better and better at it. Yahoo!

Oh, real quick: I DID plant two pots of sweet peas and I am going to plant vegetables sooner this spring. I love to look at the seed stands at the grocery store. I know Elizabeth looks at seed catalogs. Do you enjoy seed shopping? Let me know!

Something I've been thinking about . . . saying my prayers at night. Our bed is too high and the wood floor too hard to kneel beside, but in addition to my morning prayer time, journal time, reading time and my morning prayers with Bill, I think I am going to start saying my prayers before I go to sleep. I want to kneel, fold my hands and bow my head. I'm either going to do it down in the basement where all my stuff lives or in the extra bedroom when we don't have guests staying. Bill and I have been talking about vespers - communion with God throughout the day, time set aside. I like that, too. But, for now I am going to start saying my bedtime prayers. I've been thinking about being more serious about implementing the discipline of exercise and a proper diet, but first I want to set aside time at night to commune with my Savior. I'll let you know how it goes. First things first.

Happy spring to you. Some people are enjoying more blooms and blossoms than others, but soon we'll all be waltzing in the flowers and wearing our sun hats with joy. Hooray!
I love to check on my friends in Australia and New Zealand. It's autumn there now so they are experiencing the joys of harvest and cooler days.
Oh, we live on such a good planet.

Hiding in the Bedroom

Yes, I could have gotten in the car and run a few errands while Bill's guests were here, but I'm still wanting to stay home. I cherish my freedom and because I have to go have "the medical procedure that all fifty-year old humans must have that shall not be named" on Thursday, I feel like the week is slipping by and I want to stop time by hanging out at home. So, trapped upstairs with the bear and my camera (dangerous) I messed around a little. I DID draw my parents an anniversary picture and I'll show it to you after I frame it. I also talked to Kelli on the phone. She put together Birdie's new kitchen and Birdie is in little girl HEAVEN playing house today. So, below you'll see my "digs" and some other random shots pertaining to my confinement!

Too much time trapped upstairs, unable to roam around the house in my usual distracted state, I realize that I am more than a little focus challenged!

This is ONE of my knitting projects and one of the few that I am SO proud of. Remember when everyone was knitting and felting stuff? I saw so many cool purses then! I know that now it isn't the "in thing" but I still like to gloat over this purse which was a perfect wacky accessory for Pom Pom!

Remember when I told you about Praying in Color? I've been doing that! This day, I prayed for Laura, Jill, Bryan, Mark and Kelli. Then I added my embellishments and lots of squiggles and yellow-y glows! I love journaling this way. I saw that Jewels on Eyes of Wonder (a beautiful blog!) does this when she journals, too! I have long been a doodler and even jazzed up my college notes when I took all my English classes five years ago. I feel FUN FUN FUN when I am drawing and coloring!

This is all the stuff I took up to our bedroom, so I could create and think (and mess around with my computer) while Bill entertained his friends downstairs. The Creative Call is VERY interesting and reminds me of The Artist's Way (which I find VERY inspiring) and I've been leafing through both lately. Brad and April gave me the Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader for Mother's Day and it is a delight. Makes me so hungry - I'm glad the guys will share pizza with me! I'm off to eat some! Thank you so much for stopping by to visit and I promise some deeper more meaningful words later. I realize I am a bit over the top with my constant posting, because I haven't really hit my summer stride yet. I am addicted to blogs and there are so many fun places to visit and snatch up inspiration! But, I really do need to move around a bit more, so don't worry - I'll mellow out soon! Love to you, DEAREST Reader! BYE!

Knitting Lesson

Today I skipped over to my neighbor's house for a knitting lesson. Helen does not follow patterns. She just knows what to do, which made it a bit tough for Pom Pom. She found my wooden needles big and cumbersome and my knit two, purl two heel flap, confusing. Her answer? Start a mini-heel flap in order to show me how to "turn" the heel. My pattern did not jive with this mode. I get the drift. There are MANY ways to turn a heel. Helen used teeny tiny needles and skinny yarn and whipped back and forth, producing a few inches of our pretend heel flap. I soon got distracted by her dog (so cute!) and the pile of crocheted slipper/socks in the basket. She gave me a pair and also showed me how to make them, so I'll take a picture of them tonight and post tomorrow. Anyway, all said, I will fiddle with my sock and try again to make sense of the pattern and do it Helen's way next time. I will experiment with my own crochet hook and yarn to see if I can surprise Helen with my astute "figure it out" skills and hence produce a slipper/sock or two of my own. The best part of the lesson was listening to Helen speak about living in Eastern Europe around the onset of World War II. She spoke of the necessity of making everything! They made their own cloth, their own sweaters and socks, and they grew as much as they could on the small plot of earth they possessed. She has worked hard all her life and now that she is eighty plus years old, she's bored because she can't physically go, go, go like she used to. Well, I appreciate her lessons. She also told me how to make sauerkraut in a barrel and how to roast a leg of lamb. Pom Pom has a lot to learn! The wind is spanking us today! The forewarned snow storm has not arrived, but it is still a good day to stay inside and knit. May the Lord bless your heart today and show you a way to use your vast creative abilities!