08.13.10 :: yarn p0rn Friday

Because I know you all want to see the loot from my trip, I'll start off this post with my new edition of Yarn P0rn Friday. (Now that I think about it, I still have a bit of birthday yarn that I picked up in Vancouver, B.C. this past spring, that has been photographed, but hasn't made it to the blog yet... so stay tuned next week for some more Yarn P0rn Friday).

I've been dying to get my hands on some Madelinetosh DK (sock as well see below!). I finally was gifted some while in the USA, from my wonderful husband. (He deserves mucho appreciation after driving 99% of the entire trip (I did drive 1 hour on the way home when he had to rest his eyes for a bit). (It was an 8 hour drive there, all the driving in NJ, almost an hour to our location in PA, all the driving in PA, and 7 of the 8 hour drive home). AND he bought me yarn. Must be love. Above left is 3 skeins of Madelinetosh DK Oxblood and above right is 5 skeins of Madelinetosh DK Terra.

Had to get my hands on some Madelinetosh Sock as well. Right? Above left is Logwood and above right is Baltic. I don't even think these skeins are worthy of socks to get worn out on feet. I think they'll have to become shawls or scarves. Though, it's a little short on yardage with only 395 yards per skein. I'll have to find a perfect pattern so that I don't run out of yarn.

Next up we have some Dream in Color Smooshy in Blue Lagoon (the colorway I used for my February Lady Sweater.... maybe to make something matching to go with my sweater?!). In the middle above you have Black Bunny Fibers, which is a local dyer to Loop Yarns in Philadelphia. The nice shade of green is called Green Giant. (I only noticed after getting back to Canada that there are some nasty "drops" of red splattered on a part of it... ick! I might have to find a way to hide that in whatever I'll use this yarn to knit. Fun. And above, on your right you have 3 skeins of Sheep Shop Yarn (Sheep #2) in the colorway Royalty. It's a nice Super Bulky yarn, that according to Ravelry is now discontinued. Which the shop owner would have told me that. Hopefully the 3 skeins (90 yards each) will be enough for a nice cowl of some sort.

And lastly, while I was out of town, some lovely yarn arrived in the mail from my friend Melissa. I received a lovely skein (on your left above) of Sundara Sock in Caribbean and Yarn Love Anne Shirley in the Sparkling Colorway. The nice thing is that this worsted weight has 250 yards, so there is plenty to do something small with it.

Speaking of yarn, I got VERY frustrated with a skein of Dream in Color Classy tonight. I was wounding a skein for a project I wanted to cast on tonight, and well, what do you know... I spent 3 hours untangling it...! This is the first time I've had an issue with a skein of DIC Classy (and it's not my first time using it). I guess it was just a stubborn skein. It took me 2 epsiodes of Big Brother from this week (minus commercials), an episode from Sunday of Entourage and an episode of Last Comic Standing to get the thing untangled. I'm not a happy camper, but I did manage to get through it.

I want to talk today about Saturday, Aug 7, 2010.

We had this beauty's 1st birthday party, in a gorgeous park in Pennsylvania.

It was so nice to celebrate it with them. I've been friends with Lauren (the beauty's mom) for about 13 years now. It's amazing how time flies.... I sometimes can't believe it's been that long).

Even Mr. Knit & Purl Mama got into the party spirit.

Mack wore his Habs shirt proud today. (We made sure to let those Flyers fans know that we had no beef with them knocking us out of the playoffs this past year either).

And Sean wore his full Eagles gear. (Hat & jersey - a lovely gift for the boys from Lauren & gang). Sean ended up wearing it for a few days straight. I see it as being a much loved & worn shirt. Thanks again Lauren & gang!

After the party was over, (and getting to catch up with a friend (who knits!) I'd met 5 years ago at Lauren's wedding (the last time we were in PA), and making a new friend (who is married to a Canadian - we instantly bonded!) we headed over to Lauren's parents house to open birthday gifts. My boys were fantastic helpers, and now Sean keeps asking me on a daily basis if it's his birthday yet. I really hope that the birthday girl loved all the clothes we got her. Seeing as though we're apparently (I'm still hoping there's a chance they made a mistake? I can hope, right?) having another boy, I had a field day shopping for baby girls clothes for the birthday girl. Everything is just soo.darn.cute. (I'll find out soon at my next ultrasound if it's 100% a boy. They say they don't like to give accurate answers before 20-22 weeks anyhow. I'm currently 20 weeks and 4 days now. I'll keep you posted. And if it's a 3rd boy, then bring it on. I'll forever be the Queen of my house, and I'll just know that I'll have my boys, and boys love their mommy.

After a long day of partying it up, the boys were fast asleep in the futon bed they were sharing. Good to know that if we travel again in the future, they're good to share a bed. One less thing to have to worry about when traveling. This evening we caught up on Big Brother (Lauren & her hubby watch it too) and hung out. Life after kids, makes for relaxing Saturday nights with friends (who have kids too - otherwise why on earth would they want to stay in and catch up on TV?)

Happy Friday the 13th y'all!

08.12.10 :: 112 weeks old

Mack is 112 weeks old today.

I started this blog almost 5 years ago when I got this car. You can see the first 100 km here. I found it quite funky that it was 55,555 today. Neat number. Especially since it’s been almost 5 years and this car will be for sale shortly. With number 3 on the way, we need a bigger car. (re: van)

I took a picture the other night of this GORGEOUS rainbow.
Had to share.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a rainbow.

Today’s garden loot! Look at all this stuff! There is 1 cucumber and one zucchini missing from the photo. Jamie discovered a zucchini after he got home from work (which will become zucchini bread at some point over the weekend). (And one cucumber was given to my cleaning lady before she left today, which was before I got to take a picture of the loot). When I did daycare pickup today, I brought some of the teachers some cucumbers too. They were super happy. (And started “mine’s bigger than yours jokes” – which I am still giggling over). There was no way we’d be able to eat 13 cucumbers before they went bad, so I wanted to give them away.

We even have some strawberries turning red!

I had to ship off my brand new lens (18-200mm) that Jamie got me for my birthday for my Nikon D60 to the Canadian repair center in Markham, Ontario yesterday (on my dime, of course). It was working fine until Monday at Eagles Training Camp. When I turned on my camera, all I saw was “shaking” even though my camera & lens were steady in my hands. I put my original lens that came with my D60 (18-55mm) and it was fine. So I knew it wasn’t my camera that had problems. After making a bunch of phone calls, I got it all sorted out. I shipped it out (with all my paperwork) yesterday via Purolator. It arrived there this morning. I called this afternoon and spoke to a very nice man. He said he’s go to receiving, find my lens, test it out, and call me back with info. (I was also upset that I had to pay for shipping to have it repaired for a brand new lens. They explained to me that this weeds out all the phony claims (ie. people who spill coca cola on their lens and try to pass it off as a warranty claim). Anyhow, an hour later, this nice man called me back, my lens was tested out, it’s definitely a stabilizing problem, and it seems as though there is a circuit board problem in the lens. And it’s covered under my warranty. Phew. He said he put it into the rush queue line, it’ll be fixed tomorrow (as he is pretty certain that they have all the parts to fix it in stock) and they’ll ship it back to me on Monday or Tuesday latest. Once I get it back, I am going to see if they’ll refund me the original shipping, since this was a defect and not me dropping the lens on the floor and expecting them to fix it. If it were an older lens, I’d understand to pay the shipping. But I’ve only had the lens about 7 weeks. (Which is crazy if you ask me).

Alright! A bit more about our trip. On Thursday, Aug 5th, I got to go to Knit 1 Purl 2 in the morning. I will show you all the yarn I picked up tomorrow, a new edition of Yarn P0rn Friday. We also hit up a local Walmart (as I was looking for a certain pair of shorts for the boys that I’d picked up while in Florida this past January). Not only did I find these shorts, but they were on some serious liquidation. I picked up a few more pairs for Mackenzie (24 mos), a few more pairs for Sean (3T) and some to put away for next summer and the summer after (in 4T and 5T). Now that I’m having a 3rd boy, these pieces of clothing keep getting passed down. There’s rarely anything that gets ruined or tossed. (The only thing that Sean has destroyed so far is his size 3 snowsuit. Everything else (except shoes, which I don’t share between boys) has gotten passed down). I also found a really cute onesie for baby number 3 that reads “Born in 2010”. He has to have a few things that weren’t passed down, right?

Sean got his Chuck E. Cheese fix today. He had a FANTASTIC time. He’s been asking to go to one since he saw the commercial on tv. Mack was obsessed with some basketball game and Sean & I had a good time playing my fave game, Skee Ball. I was pretty darn good too. (I think the Skee Ball machines at the carnival are rigged).

Sean’s other new fave thing – playing pool. Although he’s a little too small for it, daddy helped him. They had a good time playing. He wouldn’t have ever discovered this for a while, but Jamie’s cousins (whom we were staying with) have a pool table in their beautiful house.

After we came back from dinner (I got my Ruby Tuesday’s Fix), the boys hung out together for a bit before it was bedtime. We finally got a group shot of all the kids. It was so nice to finally meet our new cousins. It was a nice time visiting with them.

On Friday, Aug 6, we got up early and headed on the road to Southampton, PA. My good friend Lauren lives there with her hubby & their (now) 1 year old daughter. Lauren & I have been friends for 13 years already. (Wow, time flies). They happen to live 15 minutes from Sesame Place, so we took the boys.

Sean, our guide for the day. (We went wherever her wanted to go).

We took some family photos on the steps of Sesame Street.

We saw some live shows.

Including Elmo’s World Live. (Mack cried when Elmo left at the end).
Sean measured his hands to the celebrities:

The boys had fun today.

Mack convinced us to get him a big bird stuffed animal. (How can you say no to this face?)

Enjoyed some Elmo cupcakes.


And even got to meet the stars!

This one was the boy’s fave by far.

Whew! Stay tuned tomorrow for some more of our trip. So much still to tell you about.
I did get some more de-cluttering done today. Progress is here.

08.11.10

Let’s talk a little about my trip. We left last Tuesday morning, August 3, 2010. We were slightly delayed because of the pissing rain. We had a bit of a line-up at the American Border, which delayed us another 30 minutes.

We stopped at Applebee’s in Plattsburgh, NY for lunch.

The boys behaved themselves very well in the restaurant.

When we were back on the road again, and made another stop, we saw this bubble gum pink car. It was like Barbie’s shade of pink. Definitely can find this car in a crowded parking lot.

I got some knitting done on Jamie’s socks, a new design I am working on. I am crossing my fingers that I have enough yarn to finish these. I may have made the leg portion too long. Hmph.

We also had a few of these pit stops on the side of the road. We are super grateful that we brought along the potty, as there were a few times that Sean wouldn’t have made it to the next rest area, miles away. He was excellent all day, not a single accident until 1 street away from Jamie’s cousin’s place in Manalapan, New Jersey (aka “Englishtown”). Mapquest told us to go left, but it was a right turn, and we circled around and then back (in a gated community) and had we turned right away, he would have made it to the bathroom. We later discovered (the next day, during daylight) that the street is a circle and we didn’t know had we turned on the 2nd part of the street (after the first entrance) that it would have indeed been a left turn)… Oh well. Sean wasn’t at fault for his accident this time. We had told him to hold it in a few more minutes, but then got a bit lost.

We made it mid-evening to Jamie’s cousin’s house, and got ourselves settled in. Jamie’s cousin & his wife gave up their huge master bedroom so that all 4 of us could sleep in the same room. They had a queen & single air mattress set up on the floor for the 2 kids and made their bed with fresh laundry for Jamie & I. We were living like Kings & Queens for the few days we were in Jersey. Their house is MASSIVE. I swear, it was like one of those dream houses you seen on TV.

On Wednesday, August 4th, 2010 we headed to Point Pleasant Beach, part of the Jersey Shore.

It was such a beautiful day.

All Sean wanted to do was play games. His fave – Whack-a-mole.

Daddy made sure he won a prize.

Somehow Sean convinced Jamie’s cousin to play the basketball game with him.

And a lot of money later, they won 4 medium sized hound dog stuffed animals, one for Sean, one for Mack and one for each twin.


Jamie’s cousin has almost 1 year old (in September) twin boys. They’re adorable. (And weigh more than Mack does at almost 11 months old).

After lunch at the shore, Sean played a few more games (he better start saving his money – these games are such a rip off!) and then we headed back towards Jamie’s cousin’s house. I went to the mall with Jamie’s cousins wife and the twins, while the boys went back to relax at Jamie’s cousin’s house. We were told we could get some pillow pets at a kiosk at the mall, so we went to check it out. Of course we found them, and I picked up one for each boy. I got the smaller pillow pet, as the large one was more expensive and I didn’t think that size was necessary. I picked up a frog and a turtle, and will let the boys decide. They didn’t have the ladybug one that Sean originally asked for when he saw the commercial on tv – however, I had no interest in getting him the ladybug one – which looked a little girly to be honest.

We treated Jamie’s cousins to dinner at a local golf course restaurant (where kids ate for free) and after a long day outside, the kids were a little restless during dinner. Mack’s also not napping properly. He gets some cat naps here and there while in the car – but he’s used to a 2-3 hour afternoon nap. He still hasn’t given up his nap, and for that I am grateful. It’s really starting to show that he’s lacking the naps he needs. At least he’s getting enough sleep at night to function properly during the day.

More of the trip tomorrow. Stay tuned.

::::

Huggies finally reached 100,000 FB Fans (wow!) so to celebrate, they gave out a free 5pt code.

BJPTCBCKNJDCPGB – 5 pts

Some other extra points are:
BGQGJPQZFGDXPGB – 1 pt
BGNDJBBNXFKTPGB – 1 pt
BJLKLQJQFKQBPGB – 5 pts

- A little reminder that you have until August 15th, 2010 to comment on this post to win a copy of Shawn Klomparens book, Two Years, No Rain. I will pick a winner on August 16, 2010.

08.10.10 :: Catch Up

I’m back! I took my first ever blog break (first ever not in the hospital giving birth that is), while on a family vacation. We left last Tuesday to the USA for a week. We spent Tues-Wed-Thurs in Manalapan, New Jersey and Friday-Sat-Sun-Monday in Southampton, Pennsylvania (and surrounding areas). We had a fantastic week. I do plan to fill you in on everything that went on. The boys were excellent all week. Of course they had their moments, but what toddler doesn’t?

I'll get back into the swing of things tomorrow as I've had a really long day today. My car wouldn't start this morning (same thing happened to me when I returned home from Florida this past January (2010), as well as last January (2009), and when I returned home from British Columbia this past April. Tried to boost my car, but it only blew the main fuse of the car, and my battery was finished. Waited 2 hours + for a tow, and then waited at the dealership for just about 3 hours until my car was actually ready. On top of this, I was making phone calls trying to figure out how to get my brand new lens for my Nikon fixed, as it started erroring yesterday. Turns out it seems like there is a problem with the circuit board for the stabilizer. I will be out of my lens for a few days, but I think the problem will be able to be fixed. I have a 5 year warranty with the manufacturer on it. As well, an almost full can of diet 7up spilled into my purse. (only papers got ruined, everything else was salvageable, and nothing electronic was in there at the time). Both boys broke my heart this morning when I dropped them off at daycare. They both threw fits and didn’t want to be there. That’s one con to going on vacation – the day back to daycare after coming home. Today was just an overall bad day. Here’s to hoping tomorrow is better.

Some catch-up from the past week:

On Thursday, Aug 5, 2010, Mack turned 111 weeks old.

On Monday, Aug 9, 2010, Sean turned 188 weeks old (Mack wanted to join in the picture, in turn, the boys squished me & my glasses). I don’t mind being in a Mack & Sean sandwich though.

And also yesterday, Monday, Aug 9, 2010, I hit the half-way mark in a full term pregnancy – 20 weeks. (I won’t be delivering anywhere close to 40 weeks, but 20 weeks is the “half baked” mark for most pregnancies). Wow, 20 weeks already? Boy time flies.

Other noteworthy mentions…

-Yesterday was 08/09/10.
-Yesterday would have been Elizabeth Zimmerman’s 100th birthday.
-I did find both Sean & Mack a pillow pet (one for each of them) at a kiosk at a mall in Freehold, New Jersey. If you remember, Sean wanted one, because it is “even machine washable”.
-I did get to visit to yarn shops, one in Freehold, New Jersey and one in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Jamie did buy me some gifts at each shop, details of those gifts, coming up shortly.
- Sean did get to go to Chuck E. Cheese – as per his request.
- We took the boys to Sesame Place (the Sesame Street Theme Park) in Langhorne, PA. Sesame Place entry price: 53$ each (for 2 adults and 1 child). Lunch for 4 people: 45$. Big Bird Toy: 23.26$. The look on Mack's face when he saw Elmo: PRICELESS! (Pictures to come)
- We got to check out Point Pleasant Boardwalk on the Jersey Shore.
- We checked out the Please Touch Museum – which was awesome!
- We also spent yesterday morning at the Philadelphia Eagles training camp in Lehigh, Pennsylvania.
- We attended my friend Lauren’s daughter’s 1st birthday party and had a great time.
- I got to satisfy my Olive Garden & my Ruby Tuesdays cravings – yum!
- I even got to pick up a few neat notions at Michaels (which we also don’t have in Quebec).
- We lucked out and had FANTASTIC weather all week. No rain, but it was actually a little too hot/humid. I heard it rained almost the entire week at home, in Montreal.
- The boys discovered Yo Gabba Gabba while we were in the USA. Now they're obsessed.

I’ll be back tomorrow with some trip pictures & some yarn p0rn, cuz I know you all want that. Until then – I leave you with a reminder that you have until August 15th, 2010 to comment on this post to win a copy of Shawn Klomparens book, Two Years, No Rain. I will pick a winner on August 16, 2010.

Once I catch up on the laundry and household chores, I will get back into the swing of things and continue de-cluttering our home. Once I get back into the swing of things, I will update you on my progress.

08.02.10 :: 187 weeks old / 19 weeks pregnant

Sean is 187 weeks old today.


I am 19 weeks pregnant today.
My due date was moved up to Monday, Dec 27, 2010.
(However, that is subject to change again, I’m sure).

Today my mom took Mack in for his last swimming lesson. Mack’s been kicking a lot in the water lately, and I am afraid to get kicked in the belly. Sean refused to go into the water today. He said he quit swimming lessons today. I also learned today, that the quarterback’s daughter is actually in Sean’s swim class this past session. I didn’t even realize. Today while I sat on the side, I chatted with his wife. She’s super nice. Maybe we’ll see them around when the pool re-opens.

After daycare we had a play date with some friends for a bit.

And tonight’s dinner was a quick phone call to the pizza restaurant. After 2 hours of waiting for our food, it finally arrived, however my pizza came with some extra garnishing that I didn’t order. DISGUSTING. I lost my appetite and I will NEVER ever order from them again.

So I’ve pulled out this knitting project, and will get back in the grove. That little mini knitting break really did some good. I will finish this project as well, and then it will go into the gift pile. I also need to get this finished already, maybe it’s time to go back to it.

08.01.10

Today we finally made it out to Jamie’s Ball game.
We’ve been trying to get to a game all summer, but it just hasn’t happened.

Jamie actually played a double header today. In between games, Sean got to go on the field for a bit and hit a few balls. He had fun. Jamie was glad we finally made it out to a game.

We stayed until Jamie was up at bat again in the 2nd game, and then headed to pick up my grandmother who lives in the area, and then headed to my parents house.

The bump and I spent the entire rest of the afternoon in the pool.

My fish Sean kept jumping into the pool over and over again. He loves the diving board.

And Mackie loves playing basketball.

Or lounging in one of the floats.

We celebrated my parent’s 31st wedding anniversary tonight, (it’s on Thursday) with some chocolate cake. Mack’s fave. No disturbing this kid while he’s eating his cake.

If you collect Pampers.ca or .com points, here is a freebie for August: AUG2010FACEBOOK - I believe it’s for 10 free points. ENJOY!

After a bit of an emotional weekend, I will pick back up my knitting tomorrow. Not sure what I’ll work on. I’m debating frogging the newborn girl cap. Maybe since it’s a wee tiny size, I'll just finish it and then add it to the gift pile. We’ll see how I feel. I will also go back to the de-cluttering tomorrow. My mind wasn’t there this past weekend to do any, so I’ll get back to it tomorrow.

Wow, it’s August already?! Unbelievable.