Teacher gifts

We are ready to gift our teachers. Tomorrow is the last day of school. There is a school party, of course. This one will include a water slide, pizza, cookies and a few hours playing with classmates. A lot of the same students will be together again in the fall, which will makes tomorrow's good-byes a little easier. Hello summer break!

Yo! Yo! Yo!

We have two more days of pre-k school left, next Monday and Wednesday. I am awful at thinking up fun and cool teacher gifts. How exactly do you say "thanks for watching 2/3 of my children 3-days-a-week, encouraging them, disciplining them, being an example for them, making sure they don't get hurt and tending to them when they do."? I am not so sure what that answer is, but this year whatever our "thanks" ends up being it will be decorated with yo-yos. I have been making them for the past two days during quite time. It is almost as much fun as knitting. I think I just like busy hands (mine -not the kiddos). This is as far as my idea got before I was side-tracked. I am thinking a gift card in the tins and then decorating the outside:

I got a little side-tracked when I though about adding some yo-yos to a tank. I think it turned out cute. Maybe a little too cute (like 4-yr-old cute?). I'll see if I wear it before going any further, even though I have some Amy Butler fabric that would look cute on a white tank or tee.

Have a great weekend!

Eureka!

I had a funny, kind of silly, and very slight of frame librarian in elementary school. Her name was Ms. Tippins. She always seemed fragile due to her small size and soft voice. When teaching us the Dewey Decimal system and getting us familiar with the library she instructed us to say "Eureka!" when we found our book. So, that was the first word I though of when I found this article: Press Alabama Chanin. It is funny some of the odd things we remember. Anyway, I have been looking for this article for months. I know I read it and had the hard copy at one point. We have 50+ magazines floating around our house at any time which made the search so difficult. About twice a year I can't stand it any more and pass on or get rid of heaps and piles of magazines ranging from The Economist to US Weekly ( don't judge!). I'm sure it got tossed during one of those tantrums. Anyway - for those that enjoy Southern culture, food, Alabama Chanin or all of the above - check it out! Have a great weekend. Happy Mother's Day to all of you Mommies!!

I'm feeling better

I am feeling better about stuff. My last post did not exemplify anything positive and there are so many positive things around me. I am disturbed by the recycling, or lack of recycling, and I am looking into alternatives. My water is clear, laundry is caught up, children are bathed. All good stuff. My two oldest girls are really growing up. They are tall and lean. No squishy parts to squeeze. When I give them hugs I can feel muscles and bones. They are little girls.

My baby is a toddler with plenty of soft, squishy parts which I take full advantage of and squeeze often. I know these years go quickly.

I am working on another scarf. This one will be a burgandy Malabrigo worsted yarn. I have six more rows and 3600 stitches. I plan on finishing it tonight on my way to see a friend. I am flying to Denver while the girls hang out with their dad for the weekend. I am not sure what he has promised them while I am away, but they aren't complaining about me leaving. It makes leaving a little easier. Be back next week. Have a great weekend.

Toxic

Brown water, recycling abandonment, more brown water. It has been a couple of days filled with disappointment.

This is my washing machine bowl. It is horrible. 5 pm today will be a 24 hour cycle of brown water spewing from our faucets. The water department is supposed to be working on it, but I have not seen an improvement. The upside? Not doing laundry, dishes or baths until the situation is cleaned up. Grrrr! I am fantasizing of living in a green city; recycle containers on street corners, fresh, clean water. Oh yeah - our little city here has decided to give up their recycling efforts. Due to the economic climate, increased recycling costs, blah, blah, it is no longer advantageous. We didn't even make it a full year. All of this is seeping into my blood resulting in a toxic mood.

Surface

If I am not here, and I am often not here, I am either cooking, cleaning, taking care of girl #1, #2 and/ or #3, or knitting. Today blogging won out because I wanted to showcase : Surface !
I am so pleased with this sweater. I am so happy I attempted it! I had plenty of support from my local yarn shop. I first saw the sweater here and fell in love with it instantly.
I get lots of inspiration when I visit Philigry. My photo does not really do the color justice, but it will do for a quick intro. I opted out of button/button holes and will do one large button at the top of the button band with a loop closure. I think it will suit the sweater nicely.
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Time now to turn my attention to Easter details. I am all Easter-ed out between school and church activities. Hard to believe we still have the actual holiday waiting for us. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

What's in store?

We are on Spring break here. This will be one of two spring breaks. Our next one is two weeks away. It is giving me a taste of summer. I am trying to decide what to do, where to go, and thinking about how we will fill our days.

I want to knit. I bought the yarn for two projects that I would like to complete before summer, but we will see how that goes. The above will be for me. Below will be for Erika and Ainslee. I took them to the yarn store to pick out the yarn.

I am happy with the colors they chose. They would have both picked pink, but I told them pink was not an option. A closet can only have so much pink, and there are so many incredible colors to choose from. They did a great job.

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The weather has warmed up quite a bit. It is shorts and flip-flops here in SE Texas. We are expecting a slightly cooler weekend, but I am sure it won't stick around for more than a few days.

The warmer weather does mean more outside options for bikes, kites, bubbles, sidewalk chalk. Aidan (above) loves to be in the mix, and the thought of not being able to keep up with her two big sisters has not crossed her mind.

So, while I think about being holed up in a quiet room watching episode after episode of House and knitting away, I know that is not likely to happen. Back to the planning stages for a soon to be hot and humid summer.