Congratulations, Umpa. We love you.

We’re so happy for him!  My Dad decided to sell his company (his baby) and start a new adventure! 

We all got together to celebrate with a very fun, fattening (expensive) dinner party!  Woo Hoo – can’t beat that!

Sadly, the lighting in the restaurant was so low that even my awesome camera couldn’t do much without a tripod.  (which I didn’t bring along.)

The party was held here:  (yep, it’s named for John Elway – totally appropriate for this family full of Bronco fanatics!  Daddy being the most fanatic!)

Yep, this is a pretty typical scene:  Will, hugging his Guh and Bee, horsing around somewhere…  LOL

The servers brought Daddy a special treat and if any of us had known the equivalent of Happy Birthday for a retirement party, we would have sung it at the top of our lungs!

We love you, Daddy.  I can’t wait to see what the next chapter brings!!!

My love affair with Facebook is over.

Let me start by saying, no, I’m not going to delete my Facebook account.  It comes in handy sometimes.  It’s still the primary way I get to keep in touch with some family members.  I won’t be leaving Facebook.

But, let’s be honest, Facebook can be a pretty unfriendly place.  And I think it’s a place where outspoken people tend to let it “all hang out” EVEN MORE than they normally would if you were having a conversation in person.

I’ve had my feelings hurt by “friends” on Facebook. I’ve lost “friends” entirely because of an exchange on Facebook. I’ve been told that I “overshare”. EXCUSE ME, ISN’T SHARING WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT?

I share things on Facebook that I find interesting and I think others will find interesting too.  I share pictures of my kids and my dogs because I have family and friends who are interested in seeing that stuff.  I might be bragging a little, because I DO have an awesome family, but I’m tremendously thankful for everything that God has given me.

I share things about health and nutrition and diet because currently I’m learning a lot about that stuff and I want my friends and family to know about some dangerous trends in our society these days.  No, my diet is NOT perfect, but I’m trying.  I eat McDonald’s sometimes!  (AND I ENJOY IT!)  I don’t attack you if you choose not to eat organic.  I don’t think less of you if you don’t care about the safety of GMO foods… I let you be you and I try not to judge.  (alright, I may judge quietly, at home, with my husband.  But that’s it.)You’re entitled to do what you want.  It’s a free country…  right now…

I try not to share anything political – because people take that shit SERIOUSLY!!  Like-heart-attack-serious!  I don’t get it AND I DON’T WANT TO GET IT!  I understand that it’s important to vote and I will.  I’ll allow you to go vote too – even if you aren’t voting for the same candidate.  I think you’re entitled to your opinion and I won’t cuss you out for it or make you feel stupid.  K?

I try not to talk about my belief in God too much either – because I don’t want to be attacked for something so seriously personal and important to me. And if you don’t believe, that’s fine. There was a time when I didn’t believe either. I understand how you could be there – totally. BUT DON’T FUCKIN’ ACT LIKE YOU HAVE MORE FACTS THAN I DO, CAUSE YOU FUCKIN’ DON’T, K? (Yep, Christians cuss too.)

Ok, phew.  Good to get that off my chest.  And if you feel the need to attack me for this blog post, go for it.  I’ll just delete your comment when I get to it…

And for those of you who “get it”…  THANK YOU!

Week 41 and other stuff

Project Life, week 41 was blissfully uneventful.  And when that happens, you sit back and look around you and realize how truly blessed you are.  There were lots of moments like that for me this past week. 

Every time I think about it, I like to type up some official-sounding questions and have the boys fill out interview sheets for me.  I’ve been doing this for many years now, even before they could write. (they’d just dictate to me.)  I’ve usually included these interview questions on a scrapbook layout.  This year I decided to include them in Project Life.

I LOVE Fall!!!  Have I mentioned that before?  I love the knitting and the baking and the sweaters.  Just love it all.  I LOVE HAVING MY BOYS AT HOME!

I realized this morning that this holiday season will be the first that we aren’t crazy busy with school related holiday activities…  It’ll be way different, now that we homeschool.  Will it still be good and fun?  Of course it will.  We’ll make sure of it!

Here’s my second completed knitting challenge for www.ravelry.com  It’s a washcloth.   One of the requirements for this challenge also was that it had to tie into my team theme, which happens to be vampires…

So here’s the apple/vampire connection:

My favorite vampire story, the start of my (sometimes obsessive) reading habit.  And speaking of Twilight, have you heard about this:

This picture makes me so happy, thinking that these two young actors might still be a couple in real life…  I ran to my DVR and set up Entertainment Tonight to record.  (Yep, it’s useless to tell me my obsession with this is stupid.  I KNOW THAT!)  LOL

And finally, here’s the most current knitting challenge:

They’re Alice Cullen’s fingerless mitts from New Moon!!!  I ended up using yarn already in my stash, which I think is more vampire-y colored anyway…

Here’s a picture of  Alice, wearing her mittens:

So far, they’ve been a pretty quick knit, using worsted weight yarn and size 8 dpns.  And I’m thinking after this one, I should resume my Christmas knitting.  The boys actually confirmed this morning, that “We ARE getting knit socks for Christmas, right?”  (giggle, giggle, love those boys!)

12

Love you more than ever!

Project Life, Week 40

How could it be week 40 already?  How could it be October already?  Wow!

Hope our early snowstorm was just an early taste of winter, ‘cause I haven’t had near enough fall yet…

I LOVE the renewed energy that  comes with the cooler weather and all the baking and knitting and earlier sunsets!  Just love everything about this time of year!!  This little felted pumpkin is my answer to a knitting challenge on www.ravelry.com   It was so much fun to put it together.  (and the eyes and fangs are removable so that I have a cute, normal pumpkin the rest of the year.)

I still have to sew the green part down, when it’s good and dry, but that’ll be quick!  I’ve wanted to knit this pumpkin for a couple years and have just never made the time to do it.  I’m so thankful that my best knitting buddy talked me into playing along with these challenges.  I’m having so much fun!

Back to Project Life, I thought it would be sad to pick everything in the garden that last day, but it was so much fun, figuring out what to do with all that quantity!  CAN’T WAIT TO DO IT AGAIN!!!

I’m finally having more success in sugar free/gluten free cooking, actually having found some recipes that my whole family will eat.  I’m so glad, because it’s a pain in the butt to have to make 6 different meals every day…

Wanted to point out that Katherine and I discovered a lovely, new yarn store in Fort Collins, The Loopy Ewe.  (I bet we end up spending lots of money there…)  It was awesome! I can’t wait to go back!  And you needed a closer view of that perfect doggy nose too…

Started on my next challenge yesterday.  Wish me luck.  I still have to find time to do my Christmas knitting too…  I guess that means no book shopping any time soon… 

I’ll be ok, I just finished a short story by my favorite vampire author, Jeaniene Frost.  (she writes the Bones and Cat books that I love, almost as much as I love Twilight!)

I know…  the cover is pretty cheesy, but I really enjoyed both stories.  And on that note, I’m probably done reading until after Christmas…  EEK!  NO…  surely not…  I need time to bake and shop and knit this time of year!

Wish me luck!

Saturday, October 6, 2012

I guess we got 6 inches or so…  Katherine and I took off to nicer weather and shopping in Colorado and left the Daddys and kids (and goldendoodle) home to play in the snow.

Looks like they had fun!! 

October 3, 2012

Going to be a low of 28 degrees tonight, so I harvested everything!  I have big plans for all those tomatoes too!  Homemade (gluten free) salsa and green tomato marmalade with Katherine!

So here’s the haul:

I know it’s a terrible, out-of-focus picture, but she wouldn’t stay still.  She was so excited to be helping me pick ALL THOSE TOMATOES!

And Boo was excited because the little girl was going crazy…  They were awesome helpers!

And it was windy and getting really chilly before I was able to get it all inside!!  HOW EXCITING!!!!