Pick Up Sticks

Blogging

Several years ago I stumbled upon knitting blogs. Oh what a whole new world this opened up. I love reading blogs, seeing pictures of projects and ideas. I have ventured off into reading other blogs as well - lots of blogs - including decorating, gardening and cooking blogs.

And somewhere along the way I decided to start my own blog. I honestly am not sure why I began - and I definitely have not been a good blogger over the years. My posts have been sporadic to say the least. And I know I really only have a few people who check in and comment. And that use to bother me. But the other night - during one of my many sleepless nights - I read back through my blog posts. I enjoyed the fact that I had at times captured an event in my life or wrote about my feelings and was glad ot was there - for reference - just for me.

I shouldn't be surprised that I have very few readers as I would need to be more proactive about commenting on other blogs that I read regularly to get any traffic on mine. But I realize I am ok with that. I want to continue to blog - and blog more regularly - to capture the events of my life - even if it is only for me.

10 on Tuesday

Haven't participated in Carole Knits "10 on Tuesday" in quite a while...haven't blogged much either for that matter. But I loved the topic for this week's post - your 10 Favorite Comedy Movies. I love a good comedy.

Once I started pulling my list together I realized most of my favorites were old comedies as well as romantic comedies.

1. Young Frankenstein
2. Monty Python's - Holy Grail
3. Monty Python's - Life of Brian - went on a first date to this one - not such a good choice as their is full frontal male nudity - my poor date kept apologizing...ha...ha
4. National Lampoon's Animal House
5. Blues Brothers
6. Ferris Bueller's Day Off - family favorite!
7. Caddyshack
8. Fast Times at Ridgemont High
9. The Goonies - all time family favorite!
10. National Lampoon's Vacation - and Also Christmas Vacation - love Chevy Chase.
11. Big - love love love Tom Hanks!
12. 16 Candles
13. Pretty in Pink
14. When Harry Met Sally
15. Something's Gotta Give
16. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
17. American Pie
18. Shrek

Ok...so I went way overboard...but I love a good laugh! Once I started pulling my list together I realized most of my favorites were old comedies as well as romantic comedies. So many of the newer comedies just seem stupid to me...or gross...maybe I am just old....

Avery

Our oldest son and DIL were expecting their first child - our first grandchild.  They had decided to wait and be surprised at birth instead of finding out ahead of time if it was a girl or boy.  For most of the pregnancy I was fine with this.  But closer to the due date I was getting anxious to buy some clothes for the baby - and gender neutral clothes are a thing of the past.  Everything is pink or blue - probably because nearly everyone finds out a head of time whether it is a boy or girl.

They had a sweet baby girl late Tuesday evening.  Despite being 7 lbs 2 oz which is an average sized baby she seems so tiny.  And of course she is just beautiful!  We were very surprised they had a girl.  My husband's family is very boy heavy - hubby has 3 brothers and of 10 grandchildren 9 are boys.  Everyone is healthy and happy.  I spent 2 hours yesterday afternoon just holding her while she slept - watching the ever changing faces a baby makes while she sleeps.  They named her Avery Lynn - which I LOVE.  Lynn is my late sister's name so it is sweet they honored her this way.

Here is her sweet little face when she is just a few hours old - so dear!

And despite not knowing the sex of the baby I knit two tiny sweaters - one boyish one and one pink - just in case!  Also knit two tiny hats - again one blue and one pink - for the baby to wear home from the hospital.

The pink sweater is called the 5 Hour Baby Sweater.

It took me much longer than 5 hours to knit because I am a slow knitter and because I upsized it a little bit for longer wear.  But I ADORE the color of the yarn.  The yarn was heavenly to knit with.  It is Miss Babs Yowza and the colorway is called Sugar - just perfect for a sweet little baby!  I highly recommend this yarn.

 

Looking Forward to the Weekend

Despite just getting back from a week off, I am looking forward to a long weekend.  It is always hard being back in the office after time off because there is always so much to get caught up.  I wish I had a job where someone picked up the slack when I was out of the office...sigh....

I am going to get up early each of the three days off and go for a nice long walk.  Even if it is just a leisurely walk it will be nice to get some fresh air...I was going to say fresh air and sunshine but I am not so sure it will be sunny this weekend.  While our winter has been mild it has also been very grey and dreary.

Sunday I have plans with my knit group to go to our LYS for an invitation only sale.  I am looking forward to that - although I really do not need any yarn....well maybe just a skein in green to make some St Pat's socks...or something for a baby knit....we'll see.

Monday I have plans to go shopping and buy some new clothes.  I wear the same thing all the time and could use some new pants and shoes! 

Then back home to try to clean my craft room...it really needs a good reorganization.  The room is too small for my needs...but I guess I just need to pare down my supplies and get creative with my organization.  One of the problems besides being small is that the room has a sloped ceiling so wall space is limited.  I am contemplating moving out the large armoire that is in there.  While I love this piece and it stores all my yarn, it is just too big for the room.  I don't want to get rid of this piece and I am not sure where else in my house it will fit.  Plus my hubby would need help moving it.  But moving out this large piece would free up the largest wall in the room.  I would love to put a long workspace along this wall with storage underneath and shelves above.  I believe this would be more practical for organizational purposes.

Oh the joy of a small home!

 

Carribean Cruise

Most people who know me know I am a homebody.  I've never been much of a traveler...hate plane trips.  But last week we took a Caribbean Cruise to celebrate my parents 50th wedding anniversary.  We went to Key West, Grand Cayman and Jamaica.  We had a wonderful time.  The weather was perfect and a great escape from the dreary winter weather in PA.

My favorite picture of the week is one I took on the balcony of our stateroom with the sun rise in the background.

We loved having a balcony.  We tended to be on the side of the ship to see the sunrise.  My hubby would go upstairs and get us a cup of coffee and tea and we would watch the sunrise each morning in our PJ's.  It was heavenly!

I had never been on a cruise before.  And while it is not a vacation I would want to take on a regular basis it was a wonderful escape from our stressful jobs.  The food was fabulous and so pretty at dinner each night.  Each plate displayed so beautifully and the food was very fresh and at times unique.  They had a changing menu each night and included a "Didja" on the menu - as in didja ever want to try...  Our son had told us to try new things this week because if you didn't like it they would bring you something else.  I had sushi as an appetizer several nights - way out of my comfort zone - it was tiny bites of sushi - not the typical sushi rolls I am used to seeing.  some I liked...some not so much.  We also tried Alligator bites - which were very good.  I did not try escargot or frog legs...couldn't do it.  I had some new to me fish - Basa - which I looked up at home and found it to be a type of Vietnamese catfish - although it was different from the catfish I have eaten at home.  This was probably my favorite dinner - Martini Braised Basa Fillet with tomato, chili and fennel.  Oh my goodness!  I could eat this every night!

We did the typical cruise excursions and enjoyed the Dunn's River Falls in Jamaica the best.  It was a climb up through a waterfall.  It was fun and a little challenging as I couldn't see out of my glasses once they got wet and I needed to take them off.  People were losing their glasses left and right - I tucked mine into my bathing suit (don't ask) but then couldn't see very well.  So I struggled a little as my depth perception was off.  But it was fun and I was able to keep up despite being woefully out of shape.  A picture is below.  At times you were working against rushing water and other times in waist deep water...climbing up about 900 feet to the top of the falls.

It was a wonderful week with my parents who were celebrating their 50th anniversary.  We had a wonderful time.  It was hard to leave 80+ degree weather and fly home into a snowstorm with high winds.  It was 20 degrees when we got off the plane with a wind chill of about 5 - welcome back to reality!

10 on Tuesday

I have never been a big fan of Valentine's Day.  It always seemed a little cheesy of a holiday.  why wait for one day a year to celebrate love...  but 28 years ago today our oldest son was born and Valentine's Day took on a whole new meaning!  Love you lots Jeremy!

Today I am joining up with Carole Knits for her 10 on Tuesday.  Topic this week is 10 Favorite Chocolate Treats.  I love chocolate- although I don't eat it much.  When I do I want it to be good dark chocolate.  With that said there are some chocolate treats I do like.

1. Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter icing - my favorite dessert.
2. Plain Vanilla Ice Cream with rich chocolate sauce...yummm!
3. Any kind of good dark chocolate.  You only need a tiny square to get your chocolate craving satisfied.
4. Chocolate Chip Cookies
5. Fudgy Brownies
6. Chocolate Truffles
7. Chocolate Melting Cake - just had this last week on our cruise - it was heavenly!  Tiny custard cup of rich chocolate cake which was served warm and had a gooey center.  Served with a tiny scoop of good vanilla ice cream on the side...so wonderful.
8. Chocolate Martini - heavenly!
9. Hot Chocolate with whipped cream.
10. Reese's Peanut Butter Cup - so basic yet sometimes it just hits the spot.
11. And I am going to break the rules and add an extra one.  This one is really my boys favorite.  A rich mini chocolate chip bundt cake which for years was their choice for their birthday cakes.  The recipe was on the back of the Hershey's Mini chocolate chips bag for years.  It was dense and delicious and so easy to make. 

 

 

10 on Tuesday

Joining up with Carole Knits for her 10 on Tuesday - this weeks topic is hostess gifts.  This one is pretty easy as I love to bring along a gift when we are invited out.

1. Bottle of wine.  I love wine and we always have interesting bottles in the house from our various winery stops.
2. A loaf of homemade bread.
3. Fresh flowers.  This is always a good last minute gift.
4. A pretty candle.
5. Christmas ornament - preferably homemade.
6. Specialty teas or coffees.
7. A bar of handmade soap and interesting soap dish.
8. Seasonal plant - poinsetta, mum, etc.
9. Homemade jam or jelly - I make some each season so I almost always have some on hand.
10. Spiced/sugared nuts.

As you can tell I like to give items that are homemade - as these are the types of gifts I like to receive.  Obviously some people don't appreciate homemade and I stay away from giving if I know someone will turn their nose up or not appreciate it.

If only Carole gave blog prompts for all the days of the week I may blog more!

 

 

10 on Tuesday

10 Favorite Holiday Traditions

 

I love Christmas so this one is easy – actually I could go on forever…..

1.  Decorating – I love to decorate the house with simple Christmas decorations.  It seems the older I get the less clutter I want in my house.  So for the holidays I like to use fresh greens, pinecones, candles and berries. 

2.  Cutting down a fresh Christmas tree.  We have always done this and look forward to it every year.  We have had snowy years and rainy years.  And then there was the year when it was 70 degrees and the boys wore shorts.  The boys still talk about how riding in the van home tons of tiny spiders came out of the tree.  We found out that because of the warm weather it made the spider eggs hatch.  We had to bring the tree home and hose it down and then let dry…ahh memories!

3.  Christmas Stockings – We do not have a mantle so the stockings are hung along the stairwell to the second floor.  My boys both have stockings that were made for them by an old family friend – handknit and given as a baby gift – so special.  While my husband and I have stockings, I would love to knit us special ones as well as ones for our DIL and future DIL and a soon to be born grandbaby.  Maybe 2012 is the year!

4.  Baking cookies – I loved baking with my boys as they were growing up.  I use to make all sorts of fancy cookies but then realized we really only ate a few kinds.  So for the past few years my baking has been limited to our favorites – snickerdoodles, chocolate chips, oatmeal and sugar cookies.

5.  Making Pierogis – this is a family tradition eaten on Christmas eve.  My husband and I were both raised in Ukrainian families and this is a big tradition for both of us.  So the weekend before Christmas we put on Christmas music, open a bottle of wine and make homemade pierogis.  I make the dough, heel peels the potatoes and grates the cheese, I roll and make the pierogies and he cooks them and does the cleaning up – a joint effort. 

6.  Looking at Christmas Decorations – we use to do this with the boys – make hot chocolate, put on Christmas music and drive around and look at Christmas decorations.  I miss doing this.  Maybe hubby and I will do one night this holiday season.

7.  Christmas Music – my favorites are Oh Holy Night and Silent Night.  At Christmas Eve at our church the mass ends with the lights being dimmed, the church is filled with candlelight and the congregation sings silent Night.  I well up with tears each time as it is so beautiful!

8.  Christmas Cards – with so much communication done these days electronically I can honestly say I still love to send and receive Christmas cards. 

9.  Christmas Angels – this was a tradition started by my great-grandmother.  She bought porcelain angels for my mother and her sister and later for me and my sister and cousin.  I bought for my boys – although it was harder to find boy angels.  Now I will continue the tradition next year for our first grandchild.

10.  Snow!!! – I love snow during the holidays – enough to make everything white but not hinder travel.  One year it snowed really hard and we couldn't go anywhere nor could anyone get to us.  We had a makeshift dinner as I hadn't counted on not getting to my in-laws for dinner.  We walked to the nearby campus and went sledding all afternoon - just the 4 of us.  One of the best Christmases ever!

11.  Christmas Eve dinner- is very special to us.  Both of us were raised Byzantine Catholic and there were many traditions related to Christmas eve dinner – no meat, 13 dishes 9 representing Christ and the 12 Apostles, traditional foods – some I make – like fish, mushrooms and pierogis – some I do not – like pickled herring.

12.  Christmas morning gift opening – I loved the early anticipation of opening gifts Christmas morning.  Hearing the boys sneak up early to see if Santa came then running upstairs to wake us up.  This will be the first Christmas morning ever where it will be just me and my hubby.  While we will have family over later for dinner the morning will be just the two of us.  This will be hard. 

So traditions change over the years as families change and merge and grow.  Children marry and now have to split holiday time with in-laws – which is all good but hard sometimes as well.  Next year will be an exciting Christmas as we will have a little one in our family for the first time in years as our oldest son and DIL are expecting in Feb 2012.

Merry Christmas to All!

November

I adore the month of November.  The weather is getting cooler, the leaves are beautiful, the air is crisp, the sky is particularly blue and it culminates with Thanksgiving - my favorite holiday.

We have had some wonderful Fall days in the past week.  And despite 6 inches of snow at the end of October my roses are still blooming. 
I have a row of knock-out rose bushes along my house and driveway and they bloom from May through November each year.  And this year is no different.

So as I walked out to my car at sunrise this morning bright bits of color swayed in the morning breeze and brought a smile to my face!
Pink, red and yellow roses dotted the plants despite a light frost. 

Ten on Tuesday

Joining up with Carole Knits for her 10 on Tuesday.  The Ten on Tuesday topic is 10 Things You Do To Care For Yourself When You Have a Cold.  I can so relate to this as I have had a cold/cough/sinus issues for the past month.

1. Sleep - get lots of rest.  This is some advice I really need to learn how to follow.  There are never enough hours in the day.
2. Drink lots of liquids.  I always seem to get a little dehydrated when I have a cold - probably the meds.
3. Drink juice with Vit C. - This one is pretty obvious and helps with #2.
4. Hot Tea with honey and lemon.  Feels so good on a sore throat.  I would not object to a shot of whiskey or brandy in there at times as well especially as this seems to help with a cough.
5. Stock up on soft tissues to help prevent a sore nose.
6. Chicken soup.  There is something about the way homemade chicken soup makes you feel when you have a cold.  Maybe it is psychological...but it it makes you feel better than I am all for it.
7. Go to the doctor.  I hate going to the doctor but admit I did this time as this has lingered way to long.  How come as a mom I am all for making sure my kids got to the doctor but I am forever putting off this for myself.
8. Take a sick day or two.  I tried working through this...and with my crazy hours it just made things worse.  Don't try to be the hero.
9. Take care of your self.  Again..stop trying to be the hero.  It doesn't do anyone good...or yourself...if you don't care of yourself.  Let someone else do it...or let it go until you feel better.
10. Cuddle up in bed with a good book or a stack of magazines or a knitting project and relax.