november sixteen

Today I was stuck home waiting for a delivery. I didn't want to miss it because I knew it was coming and I didn't want to have to go into the city to pick it up had I missed it. I had plans in the late morning to go over to my friend's house to watch an episode of Oprah that my PVR goofed on taping. I totally thought the delivery would come early morning, because that's usually when the truck passes by my house. Well, not today. Of course, right? I was stuck home ALL day waiting for the delivery, and it came at 10 to 5pm. I totally could have gone over to my friends house, and had time to kill afterwards even! I was so mad. I also got some really good mail today. A book ordered I placed recently arrived, as well as a gift that someone on Ravelry sent me:

I got some more colored goldfish crackers for the boys (they don't sell the colored ones in Canada) as well as some Irish Spring Sport (soap bars) that are discontinued (Jamie's fave soap that he's upset has been discontinued), a little toy care for Sean, some tea for me and a beautiful necklace for me as well. If any of my American friends see Irish Spring Sport (has to be the Sport Scent) on shelves at any pharmacy/grocery store/Walmart etc... please let me know!! I will send you paypal if you get some for me!! If I would have known it was discontinued, I would have stocked up before it went off shelves, you know??

My fave part of the gift I received in the mail was the bookmark that Gloria made for me. It's gorgeous!! It's the Fan Bookmark pattern. I am now on the hunt for the crochet cotton to make some. I am going to go sometime this week to pick some up - because I love love love this idea. I think I want to see if I have some time to make each of Sean's and each of Mack's teacher one to add to their Christmas gifts. They're just great. I've actually had the pattern in my queue since August 1st, 2008. And I actually needed a bookmark! I’ve been using one of Sean’s hockey cards as a book mark and he keeps trying to take the card back!

I did get a lot of work done today while waiting for the delivery so that was actually a good thing. Can't complain about checking things off my to-do list. There are a couple of good movies coming out this week, I'm very excited. The 2 that I want to see most (not sure if both come out tomorrow but they are...) My Sister's Keeper & The Ugly Truth. I have plans to watch both this week. Also out or coming out my hubby wants me to watch Star Trek with him. The only reason why I will is because I like the actor who plays Sylar on Heroes and he's in the movie. Whatever, if it's not any good I can just work on some knitting or crochet anyhow.

This evening I went with my dad & brother to visit my grandfather in the hospital. It's his 83rd birthday today. He looks a lot better, though he's still got another 2 weeks of bedrest before they'll let him out of bed. He definitely looks annoyed to be stuck in bed, but it's for the best. I gave him the card that both Mackenzie and Sean colored for him. He really liked it, which I'm glad.

After I got home, Jamie and I watched some TV while I worked on Jordyn's Blanket. Monday night's we watch Heroes, Big Bang Theory together. (I watch House and other stuff, but we only had time to watch Heroes & Big Bang tonight) as I got in a bit later than I was expecting to from the hospital.

I got a few more checks in the mail today for the knit-a-thon, and our deadline is this Friday, so by the end of the week we'll have the final total. I am really proud of our group and we did an amazing job raising money for Breast Cancer Research. My entire group deserves a pat on the back. A job well done. I cannot wait to tell you what our final total is once I have it.

november fifteen :: 150 weeks old

Today Sean is 150 Weeks Old.

So... you all want to know about our knit-a-thon!

It went VERY well!

This is our group from our event.

Here is me crocheting a chemo cap. However the first one I worked on didn't work out to the size I was hoping it would be, so I made a 2nd one.

I actually finished the 2nd one in good timing, and was very impressed. I totally think it is faster to crochet than to knit - and some things look nice in crochet while others look nice in knit.

I had little prizes for my knitters (and crocheters) to keep them motivated to knit/crochet all night long. I handed out raffle tickets and every hour (which turned out to be every half hour instead because we had more prizes than hours), we drew a name for a prize. Definitely kept my girls on their toes.

By 8 am we had breakfast. We were all starved. Some knitters took care of dinner last night and some took care of bringing breakfast items.


Eugenie made everyone a little cupcake pin cushion. Isn't it just the cutest thing ever? I have a larger one from her that she made me, so this time she gave me a keychain. I just love them, they are soo cute.

So this is the first cap I tried to make last night. A little small. Cute though. I tried it on Mack, it barely fits him. I had to yank it to make it fit over his ears.

Specs:
Pattern: Kalispell by Catherine Lindsay
For: A chemotherapy patient at the hospital
Yarn: Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash in 1911
Hook: I / 5.5 mm
Size: Adult Head
Timeline: November 14, 2009
Modifications: Altered the pattern by doing an extra increase row as I found it a little too small before starting after the increases called in the pattern.
Opinion: Hope it keeps someone's head warm.

This is the lot of chemo caps we made. There are a few missing from a hat that accidentally went home in someone's bag and another 2 that were almost done. I'll try to take a picture of the entire lot of hats before they go to the hospital.

I did win 2 prizes tonight, the first being these 2 wonderful handmade bars of soap. I can't wait to try them out. I have the info in the other room but I'm not sure if she has a website. The girl who made them is local to me. One of our knitters also collected some prizes and this was one that she brought last night.

The 2nd prize I won last night was this beautiful skein of Biscotte Bella in Jour de Plage.

I do have to say that my coolest donation for the knit-a-thon was from Josh, who is in the Sam Roberts Band. How awesome is that?? (Josh is pictured in the purple shirt below). I actually have met him many times, he's one of my best friends since kindergarten (also named Robyn)'s first cousin. I am sorry mom & dad, but the donation from Josh was cooler, even though I think you guys are awesome as well! LOL

As of right now, and we still have a few donations missing, (coming in the mail this week and people we haven't seen yet). But as of today, we've raised over 5600$! I will have our grand total at the end of the week! Stay tuned!

This afternoon I was beat and ended up napping on my bedroom floor (couldn't keep my eyes open). Jamie had hockey so I was home alone with both boys. The sat on me, they dumped things out of drawers, and you know what? I really didn't care. I was that tired from the knit-a-thon!

This evening after the kids were in bed, I caught second wind. I watched some tv with Jamie while working on Jordyn's blanket. I am making it to replace the one that was stolen from her, and I want to get it done before her December 1st birthday. After hers is done I will be making one for her brother (who is 2 weeks younger than Sean). They are my 1st cousin's kids. I really was heartbroken to find out that their baby blankets, that my grandmother made (their great-grandmother) were stolen.

Today actually happens to be my nephew's 7th birthday. I can't believe he's already 7. Times flies too fast. I hope he had a happy birthday!

I'm beyond beat... I'm off to bed.

november fourteen

This morning I took Sean to his swim class. I hadn't been to that class in weeks. The last time Sean went he was with my mom actually, while I was at Rhinebeck. Then he got sick, and hadn't been in a few weeks. Finally we got back today. Sean did a great job this morning, I was rather impressed actually. He's such a fish. Which is a good thing, I want him to be as fearless of the water as possible.

After the swim lesson we went to the library to renew some library books. One book that I wanted to renew I have to wait for Monday to go back. It's an inter-library loan and they have to call the National Library of Canada (in Ottawa) to make sure no one else is waiting to borrow the book, and they are closed on the weekend. If it's okay, then I have to go back on Monday to renew the book. I am hoping it's okay, as I didn't get the chance to finish it. If someone else has it on reserve, then I'll just reserve it again, to get it back again after that. I am hoping that there is no problem in renewing it. I checked the card in the back and the last time it was taken out was months before my request.. so I don't think there will be a problem with taking it out again, but who knows.

After the library we did some grocery shopping. I needed some items to prepare my pot-luck items for tonight's knit-a-thon. Sean absolutely loves this cart when we go to this particular grocery store.

I had gone to put my purse in the car, and while I was doing that Sean got out of the cart. Because the groceries were heavy, the car toppled over. So I took the groceries out before trying to lift it back. (Thank goodness my eggs didn't break!) Anyhow, when I was loading the last bag into the car, I turn around and Sean flipped the car back up. I couldn't believe it. He was so proud of himself - it was adorable. He was like "I lifted the car mommy! Look!"

This afternoon I baked an apple cake (recipe here) for the knit-a-thon tonight, as well as an apple cake for Jamie (couldn't leave him out!) I also made a huge pasta salad which I am bringing tonight. I also am in charge of the plastic cutlery tonight too.

I took care of some work this afternoon, and have been getting things accomplished. I still feel like there is a hundred things I need to be doing, but I think I have everything under control for tonight. Oh..... my raffle! Winners were picked!

Winners for my raffle have been chosen! Thank you to everyone who donated!
Every dollar counts to make a difference!

The winners are....

Prize 1: Melanie B.!

Prize 2: Hattie!

Prize 3: Ruby A.!

Prize 4: Betty B.!

I will be contacting you guys to let you know that you won, and to arrange to get your prize to you! Congrats to the 4 winners! Hope you enjoy your prize, and thank you again for donating to our event. Hopefully our fundraiser will make a difference when it comes to finding a cure for breast cancer!

I am off to go get myself ready for tonight. I am very excited! Wish me good luck to staying awake all night and knitting!! I will definitely need it. I have my chemo cap project ready to go (we're starting off the evening by knitting or crocheting chemo caps to donate to the hospital) and then my other projects to work on after I'm done with the chemo cap project. I will update you all on how we all did tomorrow! Stay tuned!

november thirteen

This morning I went around picking up a few more donations for the knit-a-thon. I'm very close to reaching my goal, which I will announce shortly! It's freaking awesome that people are so generous for such a great cause. It's such a good cause too. I'm very excited for our event tomorrow night, let me tell you!

Wow, today is Friday the 13th! Are you superstitious? I am not. Never have been.

Today I worked in the office and got a lot accomplished. I couldn't believe how much I cleared out and was able to get approval for (I work with defective computer parts, and have to first try sending them back for replacement or credit from our suppliers, and if it's out of warranty with them, I then have to try the manufacturer). It feels good to get things taken care of. No one was really doing my job before I started doing it, so there was a HUGE mess in the office that I took over. Our manager was doing it when he had the time - which was rare, so we were sitting on a lot of products (equals sitting on a lot of money for goods that could be credited or exchanged or fixed). I am so happy that things are starting to be organized.

I couldn't believe how dark it was when I left work today. This picture was taken at 4:46pm. That's supposed to be early!! Not in winter! It gets so dark so early, it's rather depressing if you ask me. By the time I'd reached the first daycare pick up (Mack) it was pitch black outside.

When I picked up Sean today he got to pick from a few stuffed animals that they daycare were giving out to the kids whom have sold chocolates in their chocolate drive. He chose this cute little doggy. That was really nice of the daycare to give the children who sold chocolates a gift.

This evening, after the kids were in bed, Jamie and I watched Survivor from last night and then caught up on 2 episodes of Dexter. We've got 2 more to finish season 3, and then we can finally watch the episodes that have aired so far in season 4, maybe to catch up on time before this season ends. It's getting sooooo good, yet it's still soooo freakin' deranged. Love it. I worked on some knitting and some work on my laptop while we watched tv. So much to do - so little time. Isn't that always the case?

Going to go up to bed to read. Sean's got swimming tomorrow morning, and I need a good night's rest or I can't get up on time to take him! Being in the water itself is very tiring. (Still trying to figure that one out). I always want to take a nap after the swim class!

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If you haven't donated yet to my knit-a-thon - please do. The info is here and you can donate here. There are prizes to be won if you donate!! You have until tomorrow morning (NOON EST) November 14th, 2009 to donate. I will be picking winners from those whom have donated (every 10$ donation gets you 1 entry to the draw) just before I leave to the knit-a-thon! It's for a good cause (Breast Cancer Research) and for Canadians, any donation above 10$ gets you a tax receipt. Thanks! Please go donate now!!

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november twelve

I can't believe that there is frost already. Time to start parking in the garbage overnight. I must start nudging Jamie to clean up the garage so that I can park inside.

This morning I worked from home until my sewing class. My sewing class wasn't so private today. A girl that usually goes to Friday morning's class couldn't make it to the Friday class this week, so the teacher suggested she came to today's class. My teacher reassured me that as of next week it'll go back to being a private class.

Working away on my sewing project in class.

Here is my bag (I'd say 3 quarters done).
You've been asking for progress pictures, so I've got this for you today.
I think it's pretty neat the construction of the bag.

This evening I colored with the boys while waiting for supper to arrive. I didn't feel like cooking tonight so we ordered in. I am starting to get sick of the recipes that I have - if you have a good family dinner recipe, please do share it with me. What is your easy dinner night suggestion? What do you make on a busy day? I'm open to all ideas!

Jamie had hockey tonight, so I plopped on the couch, worked on some knitting and watched my girlie Thursday night tv line-up (Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice). Some relaxing time, just what the doctor ordered. Tomorrow I have a bunch more donations to go and pick up - I am very excited to know the exact amount that I have collected for the knit-a-thon. I also have a few checks that are coming in the mail for the event - I really hope that they arrive before tomorrow, as it's the last mail day before the event. I am crossing my fingers that they arrive.

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Oh and please please please, if you haven't donated yet to my knit-a-thon - please do. The info is here and you can donate here. There are prizes to be won if you donate!! You have until Saturday morning November 14th, 2009 to donate. I will be picking winners from those whom have donated (every 10$ donation gets you 1 entry to the draw) just before I leave to the knit-a-thon! It's for a good cause (Breast Cancer Research) and for Canadians, any donation above 10$ gets you a tax receipt. Thanks! Please go donate now!!

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november eleven :: 73 weeks old

Mack is 73 weeks old today.

As promised, here is my attempt from last night to spin some fiber onto a stick. I think this is how they used to do it ages ago before spindles came to be, but my attempt here was actually not too shabby!!! The thickness was all consistent, while not perfect, its not bad. Though, to be honest, I don't think I'll be taking on spinning as a new hobby. I barely get to knit as it is, my knitting time is very precious.

Sean had a professional day today, so we got to spend the day together.

Our first stop was for a haircut.

As you can see Sean was in dire need of a haircut!

He got a lovely haircut indeed and he was a really good boy while getting it. Our next stop was for lunch. A friend of mine owns a fast food joint (as part of a Quebec Chain) and asked me to stop by to pick up a donation for the knit-a-thon, so he treated us to lunch. Sean was super happy as I'd promised him a hotdog for lunch. He was being a good boy, so he definitely deserved the treat. It was really nice to see my friend.

The next stop was to Kate's house.
Sean was in a silly mood which was fun.

I finally got to meet Kate's newest edition.
She's just too adorable.

It was so nice to catch up with Kate.
Good conversation, tasty tea, it was nice.

On the way home, Sean took a much needed nap in the car.
I am so happy that he was able to get some shut eye for a bit.

Tonight for dinner Mack ate all his portions and was still hungry. Sean as well... so since I was making Sean peanut butter and jelly on toast, I made some toast with just peanut butter on it for Mack, for the very first time. He'd never had peanut butter before. I can't remember when was the exact age that Sean tried peanut butter, but I knew it was sometime after he turned one and sometime before he turned two. I figured tonight was the night. And honestly, I wasn't worried about him reacting. If there would be a reaction, it's usually after the second or third time a child eats something. Usually not the first. So I've heard and read. Anyhow, he absolutely LOVED the peanut butter.

Tonight Jamie made a stop on his way home from work, to as private release for hockey cards (his hobby. Mine's knitting, his is hockey cards). He picked up some packs for us to open tonight, which I will get to in a minute. Once he got home, I headed out the door.

First I went to go pick up a few donations in my area. I told anyone who was willing to donate that I would go to them to pick it up. Last stop was to my friend Dara's house. She was having a jewelry party. Only a few of us showed up, but we all had a good time nonetheless. We chatted, I ordered 2 pairs of earrings, and had a good time. I am really glad that I got out of the house for a little bit tonight as well. (I cannot find the earrings I ordered online, so you'll have to wait until I get them in the mail... which should be soon, so that I can show you).

When I got home, Jamie & I opened some packets of hockey cards. We enjoy doing it together, and it's something that he enjoys that I can share too with him. I really like that. I find it fun to pull a hockey card that might actually be worth something. It's fun!

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Oh and please please please, if you haven't donated yet to my knit-a-thon - please do. The info is here and you can donate here. There are prizes to be won if you donate!! You have until Saturday morning November 14th, 2009 to donate. I will be picking winners from those whom have donated (every 10$ donation gets you 1 entry to the draw) just before I leave to the knit-a-thon! It's for a good cause (Breast Cancer Research) and for Canadians, any donation above 10$ gets you a tax receipt. Thanks! Please go donate now!!

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november nine

This morning I was relieved that Sean and Mack both went to daycare. Having them home last week was nice as I got to spend time with them, but since they were both sick, and stuck in the house, it gave us all cabin fever and made the boys extremely restless. I was so happy that we all are back to our regular scheduling routine this week.

This morning I plopped myself on the couch and watched some episodes of Law & Order and worked on my test knit. I have gotten pretty far along in the knitting, I am quite pleased with it as well, and I am loving the yarn as well as the colorway.

I think I've made a decision about the Mara Shawl that I want to cast on. I've decided it'll be in the Happy Forest colorway in Dream in Color Classy since I cannot get anymore of the Projekt B in the colorway that I originally wanted to make it in, and I don't want to chance running out of yarn, since I am missing 80 yards with the yarn that I do have, and I don't feel like doing the calculations to modify the pattern, since technically it is adjustable, I would like to just follow the pattern and knit without having to think - mindless tv knitting.

This afternoon after a friend visited for a few minutes to drop off her donation for my knit-a-thon this weekend, I wasn't feeling too well, so I had Jamie take me to the doctor. I felt weak and couldn't drive myself. After spending 5 hours total and 3 hours waiting for results, I am fine, I will be okay and my kids got to spend dinner time with my parents, which was nice because my mom is leaving tomorrow to Florida to help her mother settle there for the winter. So she got to see the boys before leaving for the week, which she was happy about. I am so happy that I had my test knit in progress in my purse, though I only got to work on a few rows as I couldn't really concentrate on knitting. Jamie was a little upset that his ipod touch didn't have a single game on it, as the time sitting there waiting for my bloodwork to come back seemed to take forever. Each minute felt like an hour and the chairs weren't exactly comfortable. I am feeling better now. That's the most important part.

This evening after putting the kids to bed we hung out and watched Heroes and I worked more on my test knit, and then we headed upstairs. We layed down on the floor in the bedroom and did a wordsearch together from the Montreal Gazette. We'd never done this before, and it was kind of nice. We had a lot of fun and when we were done and we figured out what the 11 digit word was, we turned to each other and were like "this was nice, we should do it again sometime soon"... Have you ever worked on a wordsearch with your loved one? It's fun! You should try it sometime!

Oh and please please please, if you haven't donated yet to my knit-a-thon - please do. The info is here and you can donate here. There are prizes to be won if you donate!! You have until Saturday morning November 14th, 2009 to donate. I will be picking winners from those whom have donated (every 10$ donation gets you 1 entry to the draw) just before I leave to the knit-a-thon! It's for a good cause (Breast Cancer Research) and for Canadians, any donation above 10$ gets you a tax receipt. Thanks! Please go donate now!!

october thirty-one

I didn't take Sean to his swimming lesson this morning because his cough was still there. I really hope it goes away soon. It doesn't even sound bad. It's just still there. I hate this time of the year, everyone seems to get sick.

This morning we hung out in the playroom a bit, I did a bit of work when Mack went for a nap. At one point I had all three boys napping at the same time... that was a really nice point during the day - complete silence.

My in-laws came over for a bit this afternoon to see the kids. It was raining when they got here and really icky outside, and even though I wasn't sure if kids would go trick or treating, I prepared treat bags:

I had 2 bowls, one peanut-free and the other with chocolate peanut treats. Just to be safe for any trick-or-treaters with allergies. Better be safe than sorry.

I prepared the bowls by the door, and waited for the bell to ring.

The sky was GORGEOUS after it stopped raining.
The rain stopping was a good sign that maybe trick-or-treaters would show up!

Before dinner, we had our first set of trick-or-treaters. Mack's best friend (in our frog costume) with his mom & older brother. Aren't they adorable??

I got the boys to dress up for a bit to answer the door to trick-or-treaters. I wasn't going out with them this year, as I didn't want them to get any more sick than they are. Sean's cough will for sure come back if I had taken them.

My mom & dad as well as sister came over tonight to bring Sean & Mack some goodies since they weren't going trick or treating tonight. That was very nice of them. They ate a little bit too much junk before bed, but they still managed to get to bed at a decent time - not too much of a sugar rush, thankfully.

There were only about 6 sets of trick-or-treaters over the entire evening. Very disappointing. Where are all the kids? Do they not go out anymore? We put up some halloween decorations, put out Sean's pumpkin and left all the outside lights on, plus visible lights in the front windows.

Tonight after the kids were in bed, we watched the Habs game. We won in a shootout 5-4 against Toronto. They wore really hideous outfits tonight on the ice, which they wore to the Feb 1st, 2009 game that I attended. It's a vintage uniform for the, quite ugly if you ask me.

I did some bloglines.com catch-up and am almost 100% up-to-date with my blog reading for those blogs I do read. It's quite nice actually to start being on top of everything and up-to-date. I still have a long list of things that I want to do now that both kids are in full time daycare, but slowly I am sure they will get done when I don't have to be working or in my class that I am taking.

To be honest, it doesn't really feel like halloween at all. Does it/did it to you?

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Just a reminder about my blogaversary contest - I am still looking for the 8121st commenter!

Also, a reminder about my knit-a-thon raffle! For every 10$ you donate, you get 1 entry to win one of 4 prizes on my blog. They are posted here. For example, if you donate 10$ you get 1 entry. If you donate 50$ you get 5 entries, type of thing. In Canada, donations above 10$ get you a tax receipt. You can donate here. If you would like to donate an amount that is not listed on this page, let me know please. GOOD LUCK! The drawing will be Saturday afternoon, November 14th before the knit-a-thon happens!