A bridal shower tomorrow

Our 3rd DS is getting married to a wonderful girl on March 1 in MN. We are thrilled! They will live on the farm and (future) 3rd DDIL will have laying hens, pigs, rabbits and possibly sheep at some point. She is a Veterinarian lab tech assistant and loves animals.

But, I digress.

Since the wedding is in MN and there are some people that can't get there, I was asked if there was going to be a shower here. I had thought about it but being a procrastinator I'd put off doing anything. I talked to 1st DDIL and she agreed that we should go ahead and do this!

A few days ago I made heart shaped sugar cookies.

Yea.  Just look at all those hummers.  I knew there was a reason I was reluctant to use my mom's recipe.  Now I remember why.  It makes tons and tons of cookies!

There will be some lots to send home with family.

I did some dipped in chocolate.  Of the two they are the yummiest! 

Today I'm cleaning house and making my share of the rest of the food.

Tomorrow is the day.  Wish me luck!

Oh yea...I almost forgot...Happy Valentine's Day too!!

The Perfect Day

I got my day in the 50s to clean out the flowerbeds. It was a picture perfect day today. Good temps for this time of year, virtually no wind and sunny. And so I tackled cutting down flowers in all the beds. I only took pictures of the main one though....


And so this is the before picture.

See that beautiful Saturday sky too? :)














And this is the after.

Some things were left for winter interest and some things because I just didn't want to deal with them!














After I was done with the flowers, I cleaned the windows that I could reach. And now my knees, hips, back and shoulders are asking...no screaming....at me...why did you do all that in one day??? What can I say. Days like this in ND can be as rare as hen's teeth. So you use 'em when you've got 'em!

I'm overthinking it...

I just can't seem to come to a decision on what color or brand of yarn to get for 2nd DDIL's Upstairs Shawl. I even emailed 2nd DS and asked about color but of course I haven't heard back from him. Good chance that I won't at all. Uff. I've gotta just pick something and get it. I'd love to go to Fargo so I could feel it and see the colors in person but I don't know when that would happen. I'm not totally sold on internet shopping. Especially if I get a brand that I've never had before. Okay enough with the whining!

It's raining now and has been since yesterday. We have about 1" in the rain gauge. This time of year rain is a mixed bag. We need rain for the row crops but with small grain harvest soon upon us we don't really need rain. Catch 22. DH got the winter wheat off by going late. We ate supper at about 1 am. And were in bed by maybe 1:30 or so. Yup. Late. Got it off before the rain came though. That's cool.

I haven't done any knitting for a couple days now and I'm starting to get a little twitchy. I've either got to do a little or start another book.

I bought the book "Julie and Julia". I would like to see the movie but I'm not sure that DH would be up for another chick flick so soon. We saw "The Proposal" when we were in Fargo. Actually it doesn't have great reviews but we both thought it was a pretty good movie. And I also got the book "Made in the USA". It starts out in SD and I get a kick out of books that are based in our area of the country. Any books that are about the tri state area usually get my attention. Anyway these books were buy 1 get 1 for 1/2 off and the clerk was good enough to do a override on the ticket and took $$ off both books because I have their store card (Borders). I'd be a really happy camper if there was a library in town so I wouldn't have to buy the books I read. Either that or if the books by mail through the state is still available. I've tried finding it on the internet with no success.

I've got vacuuming, clothes washing, dish washing, cat waterer cleaning and some cooking to do so maybe I should get off the computer and get on with it.

Oh yeah, the tv in the living room crapped out and we will need to replace that ASAP. DH is seriously tv addicted.

ETA: 3:15 pm. I just ordered Dream in Color Smooshy in Blue Lagoon. 2 skeins. For 2nd DDIL's shawl. I made a decision!!! Absolutely amazing.

Interesting day so far....

The day was looking good until I went into the bedroom to get clothes and take a shower. The sight and smell that greeted me was...was...words escape me. Kitty pee all over DH's pillow and Teddy was desperately trying to cover it all up. Maddie was hiding under the bed knowing that there had been a bad mistake made. There was so much that I have to think both of them used the same spot. My 1st thought was oh crap someone is sick. They've never been naughty or made any messes like this. Then I went to the laundry room to get things to clean it up and what is there but a closed door....to the room that their litter box is in. Now I understand. I had the grandkids yesterday afternoon and the door got closed by someone. Poor kitties held it as long as they could. Now I feel guilty but I'm also hoping that they don't decide that they like the bed for a litter pan.


Here are the culprits in a photo from a few days ago.

The good part of the day is that the Leaf Lace Shawl is coming along nicely. See the little ball of yarn? That is the remainder of the 1st ball and Cookie was good enough to give me an excellent idea on how to join to the next ball. Russian Join. You are super Cookie. I know you want everyone to think you are a Crankypants but you really are a Sweetheart!


I had sewing plans for today. I have 2 pairs of jeans to shorten for my sister and a zipper to replace in a pair of jeans for her granddaughter, my great niece. And DH wants 9 shirts to go from being long sleeved to short sleeved. That's a lotta sewing and if the cat pee is an indication on how the day is going to go maybe I should put off the sewing until a later date!

Baking, baking, and cooking and a tiny bit of knitting

Last weekend was our little town's annual celebration and a new thing this year was a dessert contest. Well, I baked 2 pans of Caramel Chocolate Bars. Very gooey and rich. Yummy looking yes? Well, they didn't win anything....not that I expected to. :)



Then within 3 days of each other is DH and 1st DDIL's birthdays. So I baked a cake. New recipe for both the cake and the frosting. Was a bit sweet and I doubled the frosting recipe and got a bit carried away with how much I put on. Do you see the overhang on the side of the cake? Yeah, a bit much.




Yesterday was our annual wheat test plot tour and I cooked a picnic supper for afterwords. Calico beans, pulled BBQ beef, brats, potato salad, buns and brownies. Sorry, no picture of the food....it was mostly eaten and the leftovers given to family. But this is the mess that I faced this morning. Augh.





And I've done just a bit of knitting. This is the 3rd and probably last little hat I'm doing for our grandbaby due the end of September. I think it's the cutest one. It's a combination of patterns. The hat is "Little Rosebud" by Rita Weiss and the flower is crocheted and is part of the pattern for "New York Skully" by Nancy Brown. The yarn is RY Cashsoft Baby DK. Very nice yarn, BTW.

Sunny Sunday

It is going to be a wonderful day today. It has warmed up and will be in the 60s and Sunny! I've got to figure out something to do outside so I & the cats can go out. There are some flowers that need dividing. I wonder if it is too early to do that. The ground must be pretty cold yet. I'll have to check it out...

Some of the charm of the pink afghan has worn off. I seem to measure it and have gotten no where. I'm afraid it'll turn into a job instead of a joy before I get it finished. Maybe I just won't make it as long as the pattern calls for. It apparently didn't turn out as wide either. I do think though that it is going to stretch with use. And I don't want it to become humongous either!

Well, I've got the usual assortment of housework type things that needs to get done so I suppose I better get on with it...

It's my birthday!!

So I was born many many years ago on this day. Love to have me tell you how many, wouldn't ya? I suppose I could say that I can now eat for senior discounts at certain restaurants. Gee that's horrible sounding. I just don't Feel that Old. I'm like, um, maybe in my 30's on my insides. Of course then how did I get kids in their 20's?? Ha!

It's cold here again today. Wind chill is at least. Computer forecast says -41 wind chill. Brr. The upside is that by the weekend and early next week it's saying 40 as in, yes can I believe it, 40+ degrees above zero. A veritable heat wave. Snow will melt and maybe some of the extremely icy cr*p on the driveway can be scraped off. Yahoo. So easily pleased. Just some warm temperatures.....

I finished the chemo cap last night. Extremely quick knit, lots of fun to knit and to pick the right button(s) for it but it is really not for me. Not the right look at all so that convinced me to donate it somewhere. I just have to find out if there is a place in the tri state area that takes things like that. I'd like to help our area if I can. There are lots of cancer patients around. I just have to find the place to give this to and then maybe I'll knit more to donate.....but not out of cotton! Ouchy hands.

Well, I've gotta have some breakfast and do a touch of cleaning around here. Birthday party at my house tonight. 1st DDIL is making a carrot cake and 1st DS family and 3rd DS are all coming over. DGD and DGS can help open packages. :)

Blizzard Watch coming up...

We are in a Blizzard Watch for Monday through Wednesday morning. Augh! Below zero temps with lotsa wind = really cold. Add to that the potential of 8-12" of snow. Definitely = Blizzard. The forecasters have gotten it wrong before this winter though. I'm hoping that happens again. We will have so much snow and wetness that we'll never get in the fields this spring. And that makes everyone in my world go slightly nuts/cranky.....

I've got a boatload of housework to do today because I messed around yesterday and didn't do anything productive except knit on the chemo cap. My hands and wrists hurt though from the cotton yarn so if I find any time today for knitting it'll have to be something else. Really though with all the vacuuming, cat box cleaning, cat combing, clothes washing that needs to be done there will be little spare time today!

Usual Saturday

So today there is vacuuming and clothes washing and I already did some knitting. Which reminds me. I must have been high on the tea leaves last night when I thought that I could finish the DGS sweater. I did knit the shoulders together and do the neckband which is a nice accomplishment but finish?? No way.

So I've started one of the sleeves on DGS sweater. I've found that I really dislike the decreasing and counting rows. It'd maybe help if I got my row counter out and used that but why make it easy on myself?? Ha.




I've got everything ready for the Nodak Knitters's BlizzKAL on Ravelry. Well, everything that is except the yarn. Still waiting on the Georgia Rose Peace Fleece. And I think we'll be waiting for a blizzard to start somewhere in ND before we can start knitting. That's okay with me considering I have Christmas Fuzzy Feet yet to do too! Augh. Notice how Maddie was so nice as to actually pose in the picture? She's such a smart kitty!

Try try again

So I didn't really get any cleaning done yesterday. I got some pictures hung that have been waiting for a long time. I cleaned the microwave...that was a nice accomplishment but I'm just not getting into the housecleaning. 2nd DS and DDIL are arriving on Tuesday. I have to get cleaning done today. Why do I sabotage myself like this?? Work best under pressure? But this much pressure will be nuts. Okay, this is an order to me: Get Busy. Now.

Sunday/Monday

Yesterday I vacuumed, washed clothes and knit. I guess I knit a lot because I have the right front finished on the cardigan and the left front within rows of neck shaping. Wow. I impress myself.

The sun is FINALLY out today....at least partially. Thank God. I couldn't have taken much more grayness. (See I spelled it with an A this time instead of an E. That's correct. Right?)

2nd DS & DDIL will be arriving sometime next week for Thanksgiving. I have a boatload of housework to do and some grocery shopping too. It would even be nice to have a couple Christmas gifts to send back with them.....I hardly think I could be that organized though!!!

Some cleaning

So I have the oven cleaning itself. And since things had spilled over it stinks around here. I even tried getting most of the grease out of there but didn't put enough elbowgrease into it. I dislike a stinky house.

I've done some knitting on the Everyday Sweater. But I've also done some clothes washing and I cooked a huge pot of ham & bean soup. I really need to vacuum and do more housework but I'm just not that into it. :)

The shower yesterday was nice. Good turnout and lots & lots of useful things. Mostly kitchen stuff so she'll be prepared to cook now....