12.15.10

Today was a busy day. Started off with a morning visitor who wanted to come visit Quentin. It's a friend that my hubby isn't too fond of, so I try to see her when he's not around. They have personalities that clash, so it's hard to have them in the same room. Though, I get along well with her, and make time to see her when I can. It's unfortunate that my husband isn't a fan, but he's entitled to not like everyone I am friends with. After she left, another friend came by to watch last week's episode of Vampire Diaries. I don't watch this show, but her PVR screwed up recording it, so I got it for her, and she came over to watch. Plus, she wanted some Quentin holding time. (I don't exist anymore, it's all about the baby). I did watch the episode with her, though I'm royally confused, and have no interest in watching the show, she has been watching the show since the beginning and was confused after watching last week's episode. Too many vampires, ware wolfs and witches for me. I did work on Milo while she held Quentin. I took advantage of my hands free, which was nice.

Then I ate a quick lunch, and went with my mom to go see this week's "mom & baby" movie at a local theater. Today's movie was The Tourist. While I loved watching Johnny Depp the entire movies (he's hot!) and while I think Angelina Jolie is super gorgeous... the movie itself was crap. Even my mother called it half way through the movie... and I agreed with her, thinking the exact same thing. Not sure I'd ever watch the movie again. Definitely no two thumbs up from me... that's for sure. Quentin enjoyed his first movie though... he slept through the entire thing on my chest.

I've finally gotten the chance to photograph things that I need to blog about, and first up is the lovely Fave Color Swap package I got from Sara. Thanks so much hun - I absolutely love everything. I received this in the mail while I was in the hospital with Quentin, and Jamie brought it to me while I was there. It was a nice cheerful package (and as an extra, leftover mini skeins for Babette). The main yarn in the swap package was a lovely skein of Wollmeise and another lovely skein of Lang Yarns Jawoll Magic. Such awesome shades of green! I love it.

She even knit me a shawl
- in the same color as the rest of the package
- which I chose green.

I leave you off with the funniest thing my almost 4 year old said:
Sean said to Jamie tonight: "Bubbie* told me, you can't always get what you want. That's the Rolling Rocks daddy."

*Bubbie means grandmother in Yiddish.

10.18.10 :: 198 weeks old

Sean is 198 weeks old today.

Today I received some yummy mail. I host 2 swaps on Ravelry, and this is for Fave Things Round 7. I received a novel, a magazine, some tea, a Snickers Bar, a canteen, a homemade silver bookmark with a bead on it, and some yummy yarn: Happy Feet, Spinning Bunny & Araucania Ranco Solid all from my friend Andrea.

I am looking for a copy of this back issue of Yarn Forward Issue 27, from August 2010. Does anyone have a copy I can borrow to read? Or buy off them? Or swap?

Today’s Link Love:
- Love this scarf tutorial.
- Gave in and finally got into CSI Miami. In the middle of Season 1 right now.
- I finished Magnificent Mantle today. Photos & FO Specs to come tomorrow.
- This Can Tab Bracelet is really neat. However, I donate ALL our can tabs to Sean & Mack's daycare. They're doing a fundraiser where the hospital recycles the can tabs for parts for wheel chairs. If you have can tabs you don't know what to do with - please send them my way.

SWAP ALERT

I have 2 swaps going on, and sign ups have been extended until Sept 6th, 2010. I'm wondering if Back to School has anything to do with the lack of sign ups. Hmm! If you're interested, please join us! It's going to be fun! Click on the buttons below to access the swap (on Ravelry - you must be a member).

Happy Swapping!

05.06.10

As promised, here is the progress of the 5 hour Baby Sweater I started. It really does knit up quite fast, but I just don't have 5 hours straight to sit down & knit it! I don't think it will take me too long at all to finish it. And the way it's knit up is quite genius, so it's knit all up in 1 piece. Have a baby shower next weekend to attend? This pattern is fantastic to wip up in a whim.

I got some yarn today in the mail from a swap that I hosted on Ravelry. It looks rather chunky but that's deceiving as it's considered only Aran according to Ravelry. The yarn came a little dirty, with specs of something in it, and I believe from the note that came with it, it was written that she picked it up for 2$ in a garage sale. I am going to air it out, because it does have that "sitting in someone's closet for years" smell. (The yarn is also discontinued according to Ravelry). I think I will also put it in a ziploc and into the freezer to make sure no bugs emerge from it, or there aren't any eggs in there. After freezing it, it should be fine to use, I think.

I also got this really nifty got bob? decal for my car window. I love it. I also got around to putting the Child in the Car decal that I got while in Vancouver in my window. The thing I love about these decals is that they're the clingy type, and not the sticking kind. This way, I now for sure it's removable and I don't have to worry about scratching for hours to get them off if we ever sell my car, etc.

This afternoon while working from home, I lost power for almost 2 hours. I managed to still get some stuff on my to do list accomplished, which is good. I don't need power for everything. I was able to fold some laundry and put it away, and then also shower (since there is a window right next to the shower stall, which is open on the top), and then since I couldn't blow dry my hair or do more laundry, etc, I sat in my dish chair, and read a bit in the book I'm currently reading, which I'm really enjoying.

I went out tonight with some friends. I decided to NOT watch the Habs game. I think because I didn't watch the game, they won. I'm telling you, maybe I'm onto something. I go to the game on Tuesday night, they lose. I don't even watch tonight, they win... Hmmm! GO HABS GO! Habs in 7! We need to kick the Penguins back to where the belong, playing golf for the summer...

04.08.10

Today I love:

The Dinnovator.

Cookthink.

I checked both of them out today to figure out what I’d be making for supper tonight. 2 Great websites!

Sean was so excited to wear his new rain boots to school today. He's been begging for almost a week to wear them. I think he just likes them because they have the Habs logo on them.

While I made dinner tonight, the boys watched youtube videos on Jamie's laptop.

For dinner, I made Impossibly Easy Ham & Cheddar Pie.

It was impossibly easy & very yummy. Melted cheese.... yum!

I received some fun mail today! From Heather in Nova Scotia! She was my swap partner for a Ravelry swap. I still do the odd swap here or there, as it's fun to receive mail! The theme was color and my color choice this time was "shades" (Black/White/Grey). I love everything I got. (The cashews, they're gone!) YUM!

My fave part of the package was this pair of earrings. (I love earrings). They're awesome. Thanks Heather for everything!

I'm getting in an order of Knit Kits (the black ones) into the shop. If you're interested in purchasing one, please contact me! There are a few left that haven't been yet reserved.

november nineteen

Today I kept Mack home from daycare. He woke up with a low grade fever. I can see on him bottom gums a clear line where a tooth is about to cut on either side of his 4 bottom teeth. Poor guy is really cranky.

Today I stayed home from my sewing class as I didn't have a babysitter so I had to miss out. I offered my sewing teacher, since I'm the only student, to come over while Mack naps (He usually naps a good 3 hours - the length of the class) and I would make tea, pull out my sewing machine and have class at my house. She said that the only way would be for me to bring Mack to the school, that she can't be going to students homes, and that she didn't want to betray the trust of the school (if I was her student, then she'd be able to come, but I am registered through a sewing school). Oh well... my loss for having to miss a class. And for that, I'm a little annoyed.

On the other hand though, it's good because I got A LOT of work done this afternoon. I mean a lot. I have a lot of preparation to do for the weekend, and I was able to get it done. There is still a lot more to do, but the chunk of what I wanted to accomplish today was done. I can't wait to get to Sunday evening, when I can finally relax again. There has been SO much going on lately, that I can't wait to get to the end of the weekend and start relaxing again, without any more deadlines.

While working this afternoon I watched the movie, The Ugly Truth. It was really cute. A total chick flick that I would never have been able to get Jamie to sit down and watch with me, hence why I watched it on my own time. I love Katherine Heigl. She's such a cutie.

This evening Jamie & I just hung out and watched Survivor and Monday night's episode of Big Bang Theory, since apparently this past Monday we were watching last week's episode without even realizing it (though we didn't watch it twice, we just didn't realize that we had forgotten to watch it). I worked a bit more on matches for the Fave Things Swap I'm hosting (Pals for the Fave Color Swap went out on the weekend) and I will be getting out the Fave Things matches over the next 24 hours or so. I also worked a bit more on Jordyn's blanket - I really want it to be done before her birthday on Dec 1st.

september twenty-three :: 66 weeks old

Mack is 66 weeks old today.

Mack had his first swimming lesson today. We don't know anyone in the class, and this class everyone seems to keep to themselves. Very quiet class. Small class too. Sean's class on the weekend is over packed, and Mack's is just right, with a handful of people. I like it better that way, you can actually hear the teacher talk. The swim coordinator was there this morning and noticed my weight loss. Her compliment made me feel good.

I love this photo of Mackenzie from this morning after his swim class. This sweater is just too cute on him. It's by Joe Fresh. I really like his line of clothing. (Found here at Loblaws or Maxi).

After swim class I dropped Mack off at daycare and then my car off at Acura for a servicing. My mother was supposed to meet me there to bring me home, since they needed my car for a few hours, and I don't exactly live within walking distance. I couldn't find her, she wasn't home and her cell phone was off, so I took their car service home. Boy, what an awkward car ride. While I was around the corner from my house, my mother called my cell. She didn't realize her cell was off and she was next door to Acura doing an errand. I had no idea that she was next door. Didn't even see her car there. Anyhow, she met me back at my place as she wanted to show me something, and then headed on her way.

I worked at home all day. An hour before having to go pick up my car and get the boys from daycare, I ran on the treadmill. I couldn't understand why I was sweating like there is no tomorrow. Ok, yeah, I run on the treadmill, I sweat. But I usually don't drip buckets. So I went after my run to investigate.

My house was 79 degrees!
No wonder!

Today in the mail I received Bea's sock from my Single Sock Swap Round 2. She knit me the first sock in the Dolomite Pattern by Anne Hanson and used Madeleine Tosh Sock Yarn in Moss. It's so yummy. Thank you Bea for the package! I can't wait to finish some other projects to be able to cast on this sock. (I also need to do the second sock from the first round of Single Sock Swap...! I'm a tad behind!)

Today when I went to pick up Sean from daycare I was talking to one of his teachers. She mentioned that there was 11 boys out of the 16 in her class and all the boys have been really rowdy lately, not listening and ganging up with each other. He hasn't been listening in school, but he has been napping. He needs to work on listening to his teachers. Also, he is still not sitting at the table properly at lunch time. He doesn't sit straight and he doesn't sit for very long. She told me not to worry yet though, as he's still young. Hopefully this will improve with time.

Tonight I made a pasta dinner and ate with the two kids. Jamie had pizza with the guys. There were 11 guys in my den tonight, for Jamie's annual hockey pool. Boy were they rowdy. And of course, Sean wouldn't go to bed until they were all gone. He didn't want to miss out on any of the action. I really hope that he gets up for school tomorrow.

I did manage to sell the rest of the chocolates for Sean's daycare! Jamie's buddies bought them all up. Gonzo! Feels good ot have them gone. I wonder if we're the ones whom have sold the most chocolates? I think we've sold 2 full cases (100 bars).

I did manage to weave in the last ends to Sean's daycare blanket tonight. I have a finished project to share with you tonight! Sean loves it - that's all that matters!

Specs:
Pattern: Easy Ripple Afghan by SusanB (Ravelry Link)
For: Sean
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash in Denim & White. (5 skeins of denim & 1.5 skeins of white)
Hook: 5.5 mm (I)
Size: Toddler Length. Finished size is 33 inches by 37 inches. 9 blue sections, of 6 rows per section. 8 white sections, of 2 rows per section. It’s 130 stitches wide.
Timeline: September 13th, 2009 - September 22nd, 2009
Modifications: Followed pattern as published to my own desired length.
Opinion: Love it. Sean loves it. That's all that matters.
His toes won't be uncovered at daycare during nap time anymore!

Sean helping me measure it.

september twenty-two

Sean went into daycare this morning with no issues. Hopefully we're back on track now, and the mornings with crying are long behind us again. He comes home every day saying he's had a good time, that's why I don't understand why he got off track for a bit there. Here's to hoping.

It was raining this morning, so I didn't walk with my friend Dara to our mom & tot class that we're taking together. Though, we had plans to walk and meet up where we would meet up if walking from home. Like last week, we met halfway and I parked my car there, as I work on Tuesdays after the mom & tot class. But today it's raining. Maybe we'll get to walk next week, if the weather doesn't get too cold. We're already the end of September!

Class was fun this morning. It's half an hour in the gym & then half an hour of music.

The mom sitting down with her son joined us today. Though, all the children in the class are way older then her son, and I think she felt kind of out of place. I know her from before this class, but I don't think she'll be coming back next week. While most of the kids are 14 months + (the class is for 14-24 months old), her son is almost 7 months old. That's a huge developmental difference. Most of the kids in the class are walking, while her son is just learning to sit.

Mack & his best friend (on the left).

After class I dropped Mack off at daycare, and headed to work. I'm in the middle of cleaning up a huge pile of harddrives. We are trying to figure out which ones are covered by the supplier and which ones need to be sent back to the manufacturer, and it's a huge mess (from before I started working there). Slowly but surely it's coming along at work. I hope to have my office organized and clean within the next few weeks. I can dream, right?

After work I picked up Sean from daycare first. I do this so that Sean sees that Mack really goes to daycare, I think I've mentioned this before. Anyhow, our conversation on the way to picking up Mack was too cute not to share.

Sean: "My brother's name is Mackenzie Riley".
Robyn: "Yes it is".
Sean: "The Cookie Monster told me so".

Apparently the Cookie Monster has been telling Sean a lot of things lately, including teaching him French.

I was told at Mack's pick up that he had a bit of a rough day today. Whenever another kid cired, he did too. It makes me upset/sad that he is like this, but I don't have a choice but to bring him to daycare. He's only been here for 3 weeks now, I'm hoping it'll get easier. I'm sure it'll get easier.

I came home tonight to my Swap on a Budget package being on my front step.
I love everything that I received!

I got a lovely skein of Cherry Tree Hill Sock Yarn.

And a skein of Sophie's Toes Sock Yarn, a brand I've never heard of before.
I love discovering new things!

This evening Jamie & I took the kids to go meet his friend Larry's new son. He's adorable. We spoiled him with lots of cute outfits, and we had cake & coffee. Another mutual friend was there with his girlfriend and we had to unfortunately cut the evening short as soon as Mackenzie demanded to be put to bed. Sean used to go to bed whenever he wanted (a learning experience for us, let me tell you) but, Mackenzie, like clockwork goes to bed at the same time every night. We felt bad to cut the evening short, but we had to get the boys to bed.

august twenty-eight :: 32 months old

Sean is 32 months old today.

I swear I have cabin fever. Being at home for a couple of days with 2 sick cranky kids is not fun. Can I say that I'm looking forward to both of them at daycare next week? Mack's starting on Tuesday, and I'm glad Sean will get to go back and play with his friends and play outside and kick soccer balls and get out all the energy that he has bottled up inside of him being sick at home. Daycare does the soul good! For both of us!

I made muffins today. It's been ages since I've baked. These beauties are blueberry and were absolutely delicious. Though, I cannot find my 2 blue silicone spatulas and I'm wondering where Sean hid them. Both of them are gone. (Package of 2). I'm certain he ran around the house with them while I wasn't looking. That's just what Sean does! I needed at least one of those two spatulas for my baking this morning. I'm so upset that I can't find any of the two.

My in-laws came for dinner tonight. My sister stopped by too and ended up having dinner with us as well. After everyone left Jamie and I watched 2 episodes of Dexter. We're addicted to this show! It's so beyond messed up! I didn't realize that Monk started a few weeks ago. This is awesome - now I have a bunch of them to catch up on. I'm sad that it's the last season of Monk though. The show is kooky but I love it.

I got some wonderful mail today:

A nice package from Maureen.
She sent crayons for the kids, colored goldfish for the kids as well (since we can't get them here in Canada) and some leftover sock yarn scraps for my blanket. And some gum for me.
Thank you Maureen!

And a wonderful package from Evelyn.
(The yarn is Koigu Color #P114, a WIP holder and some crayons for the boys - I'm currently collecting crayons to fill their crayon jar with!) Thank you so much Evelyn!

I also got my 9" Hiya's in the mail today and I cannot wait to try them out.

Today, this Medicator by Munchkin saved my life. I totally forgot I even had one. I used it to give Mack his medicine and he drank his medication in like 10 seconds flat. Why on earth did I not think about this sooner? I've been struggling for 2 days now trying to get his medication down. I recommend this item to any mother who has to give their child medication. And my sons don't even use pacifiers and it worked just as well. (My boys were never really into the suss thing - as much as I've tried to get them to like the suss). This thing makes my life so much easier, and I don't have to struggle anymore. Love it. This mommy approves!

august twenty-four

This morning after dropping Sean off at daycare, I worked at home until my mom was ready to be picked up. Mack refused to nap, but he allowed me to get work done anyhow. He's a really good baby and lets me work on my laptop. He usually only gets fussy when he's tired or hungry. He finally did fall asleep when I put him in the car to go pick up my mom.

The first thing I wanted to do today was return my H2O mop, since it was recalled. The girl offered me a new one, but if one was recalled, who is to say it's not going to break down. I'm fine with going back to the old mop and bucket system. The floors don't get bad anyhow in between my cleaning lady's visits. They took it back without any issues since it was recalled. After that, I ran some errands with my mom.

When I picked up Sean (a tad early) from daycare today, they said that he had a bit of fever after nap (borderline though) and they gave him tempra. They also said that he had some eye goop near his eye. Though, maybe it's from Sean wiping his nose with his arm and it transferring up his face near his eye? He's had a bit of a runny nose all weekend, so I am wondering if it's from that? I will keep an eye on it, and see if he gets anymore. If he has any more fever, I won't be sending him to daycare tomorrow. We'll see what happens over night and how he feels in the morning.

Upon getting in from picking Sean up, I took the boys down the street to the park. Sean wanted to go in his wagon this time. I love our little wagon, it's so cute. Mack tried to climb out of it a few times, I wish there were straps on it! That would be good.



The boys had a good time at the park and I worked a bit on an old project that I've had sitting in my office. It's my Drop Stitch Scarf. It's been a while since I've touched it. Probably a year ago when I started it. It's probably been sitting in the bag since. I didn't really get too far on it when I cast on, I can't even remember why I cast on if I had no intentions of working on it back then. I hope to find some time in the next few weeks to finish it. That would be nice.

Jamie stopped by at the park on his way home from work and hung out with us a bit before we all headed home. I wanted to be home from 6pm as I wanted to register the boys for swimming. I was able to register them online, as it's the first session that I can register the kids online for swimming. Let me tell you though, it was rather difficult to get the system to work and it took me 45 minutes to finalize and make payment. There error kept occurring with the payment processing site that it kept transferring me to, and it was damn annoying. Though, I think it was still 100% better than standing in line and registering! But, both boys are registered for swimming starting in September and running through 14 weeks until December. They are each going on a separate day, so they will each get to spend time with me in the pool without any stress. We tried doing back to back classes a few sessions back and it didn't work out.

I received a very nicely wrapped gift from Joolieknits today in the mail. It's one of the 2 packages I'm expecting to receive from my Fave Things Swap on Ravelry. I'm getting 2 packages because I assigned myself a partner, like everyone else when I did matches. Sent out all the matches. The next day I got a message from someone who had already been matched up with their pal. So I had no choice but to stick myself in between them, so that they wouldn't be sending to the same person again. I did send out 2 packages though, so it was all fair. Actually I ended up sending out 5 packages in total for this round, as I ended up being an angel for 3 more people who's pals went AWOL and weren't communicating or anything. So I picked up their slack and sent out 3 extra packages. I love hostessing the swap though, it's so much fun. People are having so much fun with it. Which I'm glad.

Anyhow, Julie sent me some really nice items. I got some wonderful items! A magazine, a book about cupcakes, Natural Knit Picks yarn for dying, along with some Koold-aid to dye the yarn, A tape measure, some unlocking stitch markers, WhiteTea To Go, Cherry tic tacs which are sugar free (they’re already gone…!) an awesome cherry pouch, A needle gauge, and some note pads and crayons for the boys, each their own set. I love love love everything! Oh, and how could I forget, treats for my cat too! How thoughtful of her! He’s sleeping right now, but I’ll be sure to give him some of the treats later. She sure knows how to spoil a girl!

I'm in bed now, watching some A&E. There's a new show on called Hoarders. I find it very interesting. I've always been called a "pack rat" by my parents (I always keep stuff that I think could be used for crafts and such - though I think I've gotten a LOT better at what I actually keep and what's garbage). My house is no where near as cluttered at the people in this show, but I do have some clutter and I am a bit disorganized at times. Though, this show reassures me that I am no where near a real hoarder. Have you seen this show? It's unreal what these people have in their homes. Expired food in their freezer from 1992. Stuff like that. Nasty if you ask me. It makes me wonder if I have a bit of a hoarding issue when it comes to yarn and my stash??? Do you hoard yarn?? Or is just a collection?? I mean, I do knit from my stash... it's just ... quite a larger stash than I thought it would ever become. You know?? I think I need to declare 2010, the year to knit from stash. Or maybe start it after Rhinebeck?? What do you think? Anyone with me!?

I think I'm going to go read a bit before bed.

july nineteen :: 133 weeks old

Sean is 133 weeks old today!

Sean gt up again really early this morning, and found his way into our bed. I sleep so uncomfortably when he's in our bed as it's a Queen size, and just enough room for Jamie & I. To add Sean too, it's quite squishy. Though, for the first time in many weekends we got Sean to nap this afternoon. We were super happy about that! He's been fighting his weekend naps. Let's just hope that next weekend we have nap time for him again! Keeping our fingers crossed!

For lunch today, I made quesadillas from scratch. Yum!

Chicken quesadillas that is!

We wrapped them in tin foil, and Jamie melted the cheese on the BBQ, it was so yummy!

This afternoon while both boys napped I worked on Pal Matches for Fave Things Round 4 on Ravelry, and did some laundry. (The laundry the seems to never end). Pal matches are now all officially out, as promised by today. It's going to be another great swap.

Tonight we all went to my parents house for dinner.

Mack wearing his Little Brother onesie that I got for him when we went to Rhinebeck 08. It's taken him this long to fit into it! (It's almost time for Rhinebeck 09!) My little pisher is 13 months old, and is wearing a onesie 6-12 months size. That's how long it's taken him to fit into it.

Tonight at dinner Sean got a kick out of watching videos on my brother's iphone. He was laughing so hard it was cracking the rest of us up. I love Sean's little boy laugh. Makes me smile.

Tonight my grandparents (dad's parents) were over for dinner at my parents house. My grandmother gave me another 3 (Yes, THREE) Fun Fur scarves that she's knit for me. One in white, one in blue and one in pink. What on earth am I supposed to do with them? I already have a selection of about 15 of them. I first off, cannot stand novelty yarn. It's super sweet of her to have made them for me... but what am I supposed to do with them? Maybe I can donate them to Sean's school for the kids, for the winter if one of the kids forgets their scarf on a day they are playing outside?? I don't know. If not, maybe for charity through the knitting guild. They always collect during the year. I unfortunately will never wear them (though I'd never tell my grandmother that). Have you ever gotten something you absolutely wouldn't wear that was handmade by someone in your family or even by a friend? What did you do?