Oh Christmas Tree....

I'm sure I must have used that post title last year, oh well, today is the first day of my Christmas vacation and at the moment I have zero creativity! I will be off work for 3 weeks (yay me!) and hopefully I'll get my creativity on at one point, just not today.

Menu Plan Monday still continues for us, but apparently I don't have time to post it to the old blog once a week. I can tell you this much....the CrockPot Cheesy Ravioli was not much of a hit, apparently Owen doesn't like Ravioli noodles. Why, you ask? Because they are shaped funny. Who knew? I also found the sauce way too tangy - probably because of the can of tomato sauce and no added tomato paste to take the 'zing' out. Anyway, I have small lunch size containers of ravioli filling my freezer, and I will be taking it for lunch for the next month I'm sure!

So we made our way out to the tree farm on Sunday to get our Christmas tree.

It was a perfect day - the first snowfall of the season, but still not too cold so we could spend some time finding the perfect tree. Yes, I let my 6 year old hold the hacksaw. No fingers were lost and he played a big part in cutting down the tree, which he had wanted to do so badly!

And no trip to the tree farm would be complete without a visit to the donkey, who apparently, year after year, has been holding a torch for Aidan. On the drive out to the farm the kids asked if the donkey who is in love with Daddy would be there again this year, and sure enough she was. I am going to assume the donkey is indeed a "she", I did not actually look, but for Aidan's sake she is female. Still a donkey, but at least female. Last year, this very same donkey could not get enough of Aidan - she was rubbing her head on him, following him around, and trying to get him to put his arm around her neck. It was hilarious! And this year was no exception.


The Christmas concert for the kids school is tonight, Maeghan has to wear a sombrero. Not sure about the connection between a sombrero and Christmas, but I will soon find out!

Menu Plan Monday

I've been menu planning for a while now, and I can't begin to tell you how much it helps me organize our lives! No more getting home from work after an hour in traffic with two hungry kids wondering what the heck I'm gonna make for dinner. No more chicken strips and KD as a standby - although, we still will have KD and chicken strips because we love them both! I now know what we are going to have for the entire week, it's so helpful that I can do some prep work the night before if I know we are going to get home late. It has also saved quite a chunk off of our grocery bill. Now I only buy what's on the menu, and I also plan the menu around what I can get on sale, and have stockpiled.

So this week for the first time I'm taking part in OrgJunkie's Menu Plan Monday.

Here's what's for dinner:

Sunday: Sloppy Joe's (my kids call them Sloppy Joppy's or Crabby Patty's - from Sponge Bob!) with Greek Salad on the side
Monday: SlowCooker Salsa Chicken - New Recipe to us
Tuesday: Leftover Salsa Chicken Burritos!
Wednsday: Owen's Favorite StirFry
Thursday: Taco Baked Potatoes - New recipe to us
Friday: Beefy Cheesy Enchiladas (I don't have a link for this one, but if anyone is interested in the recipe I'd be happy to post it - very simple recipe and really yummy!)
Saturday: SlowCooker Cheesy Ravioli - haven't tried this one yet, I'll let you know how it is.

So if there are any real winners from the new to us recipe's, I'll let you know!

FO: Jane

I finally finished Jane. This one took me some time to complete, two moves will do that to you! Plus I was really unsure of how it was going to come out. Surprisingly, I have fallen in love with Jane.

Sorry for the grainy photo's, the weather has been pretty dreary around these parts, can't seem to get enough light at all. Even in the middle of the day!

Pattern: Jane by Wendy Bernard from the book Custom Knits
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers in Mallard
Needles: US 9's/5.5mm
Mod's: Nothing major. I lengthened the sleeves some - I love long sleeves - and also added a few extra rows of seed to the bottom hem, only because I was afraid of it being too short.

Blocking helped this pattern soooo much. It really relaxed the stitches and it drapes so beautifully now. It lengthened it perfectly - I probably didn't need those extra rows.

It is really comfy and cozy. Great pattern! I look forward to knitting another one from this book, but for now I have cast on for Carmela's Cardigan with some Cascade Eco Wool +. My gauge is smaller, but that's exactly what I'm going for, it's turned out quite large on some Ravelry users, and I want it to have a bit of negative ease. We'll see.

***edited to add*** Next time I'll try to look a little bit happier! I just realized how dismal my face looks - just like the weather I guess!

Time for Change

I really felt like I needed a change with my blog. When it was first created a few years ago it's focus was supposed to be all knitting, all the time. But as time and life have progressed there are things that I want to talk about and share that really aren't knitting related, I am interested in other things too you know! So I have decided to change the title of the blog to reflect that there is more to me, and going to be more to this blog than just my fantastic knitting! (hehe).

So if you will look above, you will see a new header, with a new blog title! It still depicts my love of Red Yarn, but hopefully also will show that this blog is about more than that. I also share parts of my life, family, and hopefully soon (if my craft room ever materializes!) other crafts! (Sewing...I'm talking about you!!!) I had contemplated moving the blog altogether to a new address, and starting over from scratch, but I didn't want to lose what few readers I already have. So here it is. Same blog, new spin. And now that I have actually figured out how to change the header!!!!!! perhaps you'll see a new header from time to time.

Thanks for stopping by!

FO: Dark Side Cowl

Yes, I realize what follows is a fairly disturbing picture of myself, but this is part of the burden I shall bear for the sake of my knitting.

Self portraits are not my forte.

Pattern: Darkside Cowl by Sarah Fama
Yarn: Patons Classic Merino - Dark Gray Mix
Needles: KP's Options in US 10/6 mm

I wanted to use up the leftovers from my Bella's Mittens and I had just enough to do a cowl. I love the texture in this pattern, it was very easy to knit. I wore the cowl to walk the kids to school last week and I was cozy warm. :o)

In other news, a probable case of H1N1 has hit my house. Poor little Owen is down for the count. He has quite a few of the symptoms - fever, bad headache, nausea/vomiting, and a horrific chest cough which has turned quite congested. I'm mostly worried about the cough as that is the side effect of the virus that is really making people very ill - a bacterial infection can occur in the lungs making it difficult to breathe. He was scheduled for his vaccine tomorrow (along with Maeghan who at this point is symptom free) , so I'm going to ask the doc if she thinks he should still get it, just in case this isn't H1N1 that he has now.

And furthermore, as if that wasn't enough, Owen has managed to break his collarbone even worse than before and is now being referred to an Orthopedic Surgeon who will decided if he will require surgery or not. We aren't absolutely sure how it happened, but think it may have been when he was out in the backyard a couple of weeks back, tripped, and tried to break his fall by reaching up and grabbing onto a tree branch - unfortunately with his bad arm.

What a mess. When it rains, it pours.

Happy Halloween!

Bella's Mittens

If you have ever seen the movie "Twilight" than you may have noticed these mittens that Bella was wearing near the beginning of the movie. The scene where she slips on a sheet of ice and lands on her butt. I love these mittens. I love how they go up over the sleeves of her jacket. I've really wanted to knit up a pair for a while, and I have finally gotten around to it. Thankfully, I'm not the only one who likes these, and Marielle from Subliminal Rabbit whipped up a pattern! As we speak there are 2002 Bella's Mittens projects on Ravelry. I have now jumped on the bandwagon.

Yarn: Patons Classic Merino in Dark Grey Mix held double
Needles: KP Options US 10's/6mm - 32" length - Magic Looped
Verdict: Loved the pattern, very straightforward which a gal like me really appreciates. I wore these when I walked the kids to school this morning and my hands were toasty warm. I have almost a skeins worth of yarn leftover, so I'm going to knit up a matching cowl.

As promised in the last post, I bought a couple of rakes and got the kids to work! Actually, as soon as they saw the rakes they couldn't wait to get outside and rake up the biggest pile of leaves they could so they could jump in it. Maeghan even got out the wheelbarrow and carted a whole pile out to the front yard (where there were no leaves to begin with!), I'm still not really sure why, probably to decorate the front lawn or something like that. I had to put my foot down though and get her to clean it all up.

(don't you love the architectural element to our fence? I mean, why dig out the dead log....just build the fence AROUND it! Seriously?)



So we are starting to get ready for Halloween, the pumpkins are carved, the candy has been purchased, and costumes chosen. Maeghan will be the same witch that she has been for the last two years (yay! That girl takes after her mama in her thriftiness!), and Owen was going to be Spiderman, but has now decided on Darth Vader - either would have been fine as we already have costumes for both!



Have a great week, I'm back to work tomorrow (boo!), but will hopefully have some Halloweeny (Owen always laughs when I say Halloweeny - boys!) pictures for next week!



Happy Halloween(y)!

A Garden!

My man is building me a garden! How lucky am I? And how industrious is he?

He recycled all of the large rocks from various locations around the yard, digging them out and repositioning them to build a large raised garden bed. We are planting clumping Bamboo along the back whole length of the fence to give us some privacy from the neighbors along that side. They're not bad neighbors, we just don't want to look at them all of the time. The bamboo will take a few years to grow to the max height of 15 ft., and we have been told this particular type of bamboo will not spread (which is the problem with most bamboo) and will build a very nice privacy screen for us. Next spring we will plant potatoes and carrots and whatever else will fit into this garden.


Aidan also built these steps leading down into the backyard. Such an improvement over the muddy slope that used to be there! To the right of these stairs is another raised bed that runs the length of the yard. Aidan is planning to replace the soil in it and we will grow more vegetables and strawberries in it. He has hopes of building a greenhouse before spring, in which we will grow tomatoes and red/green peppers, as well as some habanero or jalapeno peppers for salsa!

These are all great plans, but let it be known, for all intents and purposes, I have a black thumb. I crave growing my own veggies, and canning my own tomato sauces and salsa's, and growing our own pumpkins for Halloween, but the likelihood of anything actually growing, let along fruiting, is pretty slim. We will give it our best effort, I will be frequently consulting "Gardening for Dummies" as well as searching the internet, and we will keep our fingers crossed until the first crop comes in!

In the meantime, we will have to deal with these leaves. They are ginormous. Each leaf is the size of my head. This is the part where we get the kids rakes for presents and enslave them into a life of eternal raking.

I think we are going to need another "Yard Trimmings" bin.

Ouch!

Well, Owen's been benched with an injury. Poor little guy. He managed to break his collarbone on Saturday night and will be out of play for the next 4-6 weeks. They were doing gymnastics in the basement and he attempted a front flip (originally he was going to do one off of the coffee table, but I caught him and told him no way! Then as soon as I left the room he decided to try one just off of the floor instead!) He's pretty disappointed, he was enjoying hockey so much, and now he won't be able to play until close to Christmas! Soccer is also out, as well as swimming lessons which were to start yesterday. He can't sit up or lay down by himself, and walks very gingerly - he's so afraid he is going to jar it, it hurts so bad! And of course because it is his collarbone, they can't cast it, he just has his arm in a sling, and has to keep it as still as he can for the next 3 weeks. Ha! Try telling that to a 6 year old! The doctor said that kids heal much quicker than adults, and the break should be fully healed in about 4 weeks, but of course he will have to be careful as any impact could re-break it.

(check out the fancy sling from the hospital...they go all out! A foam tube.)

I'm going to have to invest in some button up shirts. We have one. And two pairs of button up pajamas. Looks like I'll be doing the wash everyday for then next 3 weeks!

I just want to hold him in my arms and cuddle him all day! But that hurts him too. I already tried.

However, as much as I feel sad for the pain that my "baby" is going through, I was a little relieved that our crazy, hectic weekday schedule is on hold for a while. It's been pretty exhausting, and this will give us a chance to recoup a bit.

A couple of days before this happened to Owen, Maeghan received a golf ball in the eye (courtesy of her brother - total accident though) and now has a black eye. They make quite a pair now! On top of this Aidan has been going to physio for muscle spasms in his back. I'm the only healthy one left. Knock on wood.

Well, that's it for now, Owen and I are going to put in some movies and vegetate together for the day. He's too sore for school, and thankfully my work is letting me take a few days off to take care of him. I hope to get some progress on my Jane cardi, one sleeve to go! Not sure yet how I feel about it. I hope I like it more after blocking, but I think I should have made the smaller size, it feels a little big across the shoulders/armpit area. I have decided that if I don't end up wearing it much, I will rip it and make something else. I love the color of the yarn way too much to leave it in the closet unused. Anyways, I'm probably jumping the gun a bit since I'm not even finished yet!

May I introduce to you...for the first time...playing whatever position he wants....number 96......Owen Michael Sheridan!!!!!!!

Yes, that's right, my wee little guy is now a hockey player. His favorite piece of equipment is the cup/jock strap (why am I not surprised...), and he walks around wacking it with his stick, marveling how it doesn't hurt when he does so.

Boys.

I'm surprised he can even skate with all of that gear on. It's really heavy! He is loving every second of it and as soon as one game is over he is asking when the next game will be. He just can't get enough!

The hectic fall schedule has hit us full force. Aidan is in school at the university three nights a week, just so happens they are the same three nights that the kids have their activities. Hockey and soccer practice for Owen, and Maeghan is starting Brownies. I'm exhausted. I give kudos to all single parents out there. I don't know how you do it! Saturdays we have gymnastics and a soccer game, and then in October swimming lessons starts on Sundays. Yikes. What have I gotten myself into.

But the kids love it, Owen has such natural athletic ability that I really wanted him to be able to experience a couple different sports so he can find out what he truely loves. So far he can't decide. He says he loves both equally.

We have started a new school this year, that has been quite an adjustment for us as well. Making new friends (both kids and adults) and trying to feel connected and a part of things is hard work! But we've met a few, and things are going well, Maeghan wants to start a book club for new and old Grade 3 friends which I think is a fantastic idea. We will try to organize a monthly meet-up, it'll be a good way for her to keep in contact with her old friends, and get to know new friends better.

If you have any suggestions for a good Gr. 3 level book, let me know, Maeghan has already read Matilda, which she loved...any others?

Winding Up

So a little knitting did get done while we were vacationing. I knit in the car for most of our travelling, working on the Gathered Scarf. Nice, easy, mindless knitting. Perfect for a long car ride with constant interruptions from the bored children sitting behind you. I began it in the line-up for the border crossing from BC into Washington State. I'm using Knit Picks Gloss fingering weight yarn and size 7 & 9 needles. It's producing a lovely fabric, I can't wait to wear it this fall! It's only a couple of feet long at this point, but it'll be a good travelling project to work on at work in the coming months.


A few months back, for my birthday, I received a ball winder and swift from KnitPicks. Because of our crazy double move I only just recently had a chance to wind up some yarn with it. I was very disappointed. The swift is a bit rough around the edges, not a nice smooth wood like I would have expected, but that is something I can live with. The disappointing part was the ball winder. No matter what I did it would not produce lovely looking yarn cakes like I have seen all over the Internet, and in person from my friends. In fact, one of my friends owns the KnitPicks ball winder and her cakes come out awesome. So I went on to every knitters favorite website, Ravelry, and onto the forums where I found a whole thread about this particular ball winder. Turns out I wasn't the only one to get crazy lopsided piles of yarn, it wasn't me, it was a problem with the actual winder. So late on a Sunday night I sent an email to KnitPicks, not expecting a response for a while, I mean, they were closed and all, but low and behold, immediately the next morning I had a response apologizing for my funky ball winder and that they would send another out in the mail to me immediately! They didn't even want the old one back! They said just to chuck it! Crazy!

I have always heard good things about the customer service from KnitPicks, but this was my first experience with it, and I have to say I am thoroughly impressed!

Anyways, my ball winder has crossed the Canadian Border (according to Canada Post), and I expect it will arrive any day now. I'll let you know how the new one works.

A Vacation in Pictures

Cannon Beach, Oregon

(The Cabin Where We Stayed)

Long Beach, Oregon

(Kite Festival)

(Wild Bunnies)

We are so going back.

Heat Wave!

Well I guess it's from one extreme to the next around here! Last post I was talking about how we were so cold in the house since we've turned the furnace off, now we are in a bit of a heat wave! My car thermometer registered 40 C (104 F) on my drive home from work the other day. Granted, the hot metal of the car usually ups the temp by a few degrees, but wow. For some of my friends who are used to this kind of heat (hi Charmaine who lives in Phoenix!!!) are probably rolling their eyes at me right now, but we do not have a pool in our backyard, nor do we have air conditioning. So to us, this is significant. I have been surviving by laying on the couch with a fan blasted right at me, spreading out as far as I can so none of my skin touches, and eating plenty of ice cream sandwiches. I've gained 3 pounds. I am so not made to live in the heat!

We had a family reunion yesterday - all the relatives from my mom's side of the family. It was pretty cool to see everyone - some I haven't see for at least 15 years! My cousin hosted at his home, a very beautiful home on acreage. There was so much to do. We spent the afternoon swimming in the pool, jumping on the trampoline and flying down the zip line!

Here the kids are getting ready to come flying down. It was soooo high up. I was really scared when it was my turn, it was so hard to step off the ledge! (I'm a big chicken.)

The smaller kids were just rippin' down. It was very fun. The event was catered courtesy of my cousin John (the host), and the food was FANTASTIC. I never in a million years expected such extravagance. I thought it was going to be hot dogs, hamburgers, and pasta salad - typical BBQ fair, but instead there was Fillet Mignon, salmon, brisket, so many salads and yummy vegetables., and chocolate fondue for dessert. It was heaven.

Here's Maeghan with a couple of cousins (my second cousins) whom she has never met. The girls were inseparable. They had a great time. It was especially nice for Maeghan because on Aidan's side of the family there are no other girls her age. And in our immediate family no girls at all. So she was really thrilled, I hope we can keep in touch with everyone a little bit better.

Tomorrow evening we are having a family dinner to celebrate my brother Darren's 30th birthday (Happy Birthday Darren!) and my Dad's 61st Birthday (Happy Birthday Dad!). Their birthdays are 3 days apart, as well as Aidan and I having our wedding anniversary right in between! It will be 7 years this year. Time flies!

I'm going to need this weather to cool down a bit if there's going to be any knitting in the near future. I'm trying to think of a project to take along to Oregon this summer (road trip!). Something small, and portable. Maybe I'll start some of those Ribby Slippers fr0m last year's IK Gifts. They would make good gifts. Or perhaps a lacy scarf for me. Hmmm, I'll have to think on it a bit more. Have a great weekend everyone! Happy BC Day! I love long weekends!

Apparently we need to build another fire.....

This is what I woke up to this morning. The kids playing their Game Cube, apparently a little cold!


Hopefully the weather will get a bit warmer by the end of the week!

Slowly we are bringing boxes over from the storage unit. Aidan is planning to rent a truck for the heavier stuff later this week. It's hard having things here and there, but most of the stuff that is there can probably head straight to the thrift store anyways! We've been doing without a lot of it since last August!

Owen has managed to finds his caps, but not his cap gun. So, he's banging the caps with a rock! I remember doing this when I was kid. Great fun!

Ski goggles and swimming goggles - safety first!

We are finally home!

Wow! Has it really been two months? I know it's been awful quiet around here (Aidan sent me an email saying, and I quote, "You need to update your blog, you're beginning to look pathetic!"). Thanks dear. So here I am, finally!

We've been very busy around here, after two big moves we are finally home!!!


I think that was one of Aidan's happiest moments, pulling that sign out of the ground. I think Maeghan's favorite moment was the "loud" party we had on the first day. We let the kids scream as loud as they wanted for as long as they wanted! It felt so good after years of constantly shushing them. Now we can let them be kids. It's awesome!

Notice the lovely brown carpets.......or actually, try not to!

I swear there is nothing more attractive than a man who'll clean the toilets.
(picture taken on the sly by Owen)

The first major renovation was a new roof, hopefully the roofers will be done by tomorrow. The big bin finally left today. I can park in my garage again! That is a novelty in itself! A garage! The only other work going on right now is renovating the kids bedrooms. Here is Maeghan painting her room. She chose the color and I think it will be very pretty when it is done. I will do a before and after post when everything is complete.

Last night we had our first fire! I know, in the middle of July. It's been cold this week and we've shut the heat off until fall. Boy was this a long time in coming. When we purchased our townhouse 5 years ago, one of the selling features was that it had a wood burning fireplace, however, we were never able to use it due to the chimney not being safe and the long drawn out process of the Strata figuring out whether they would pay, or if we had to, to get it fixed. As soon as that fire was lit the whole atmosphere of the evening changed. It was lovely! And the best part? We actually have TWO wood burning fireplaces in this house. I can't wait till winter!

Mother's Day Update

The Mother's Day Tea was awesome! Owen greeted me at the door with a shiny silver necklace that he placed around my neck before taking me by the hand and leading me to the table where we would be sitting. He had decorated the table with a place mat that he had made for me, a tomato plant he had grown for me, and a beautiful card that he had made me. It was a very fancy tea, pretty teapots and linen tablecloths. The grade 5 class were our server's. They did an excellent job and took very good care of all of the mom's. I was not thinking, and am kicking myself for not bringing my camera, I was probably too traumatized by the Rice Krispie Squares.

Ahhh yes, the Rice Krispie squares. They did not turn out well. They were so hard and crispy that I almost broke a tooth when I tried one out. Seriously. I could not figure out what the heck I did wrong. Then suddenly a light bulb went off. I used a 4 cup measure, my brain thought I was using a 2 cup measure. I had put in far too many Rice Krispie's! But, it was too late to make something else, so I brought them anyways, warning Owen to stay away from that particular plate of goodies. Fortunately when I got to the school I was one of the first ones there and was able to slip the plate onto the food table without anyone noticing. No one knew that I brought them! Later on Owen pointed out to me the plate that we needed to avoid in a five year old "whisper". I pretended to not know what he was talking about.

On Sunday we headed to the park to have a picnic with some friends. Owen was thrilled to have a boy to play with, and he and his friend Tomis spent most of the day wrestling in the grass.


While Maeghan drew with chalk with the twins.

It always amazes me how they are both naturally drawn to doing your typical gender related things. You would never catch Maeghan wrestling with her girlfriends in the grass, or sitting for hours at the skateboard park watching the big boys skate, and while Owen loves little kids and chalk, he definitely prefers the "boy" pursuits of skateboarding and pretend fighting.

Anyways, Jane is coming along, I love how she is turning out, and can't wait to be done! Hopefully I won't get stranded on sleeve island for too long! I should have pictures soon.

P.S. Thanks for all of your wonderful suggestions on cleaning my Krispie pot. I did end up soaking it in hot water and it all came off quite nicely. I do not know where my brain was last week. I will definitely be trying to make them in the microwave next time!

Just Call Me Martha

I'm sure by now most of you know that I'm not much of a baker. I've made some attempts at bread, which have been favorably received, but I am not one to bake on a regular basis, nor do I have the desire to. When Owen came home from school with a notice saying that his class was going to host a Mother's Day tea and that I needed to bring a tray of goodies, I immediately thought "no big deal, I'll just swing by the bakery and pick up something yummy!" But what I failed to realize immediately was that one of Owen's little buddies has severe allergies, and whatever I brought in had to be completely nut free. Yikes. I wasn't confident that I could find something nut free/made in a nut free environment so I decided that I had better make something myself. How hard could it be? I decided on Rice Krispie Squares, seemed simple enough. I've never made them before (I know, seriously?) but I had all the ingredients on hand which made it the perfect choice from a grocery budget stand point (yes, I'm on a strict food budget...more on that to come).

The marshmallow melting went smoothly enough, nothing burned. Then I mixed in the Rice Krispie's and stirred until I thought my arm was going to fall off. Mr. Rice Krispie said to add some vanilla to the melted marshmallows, but thankfully he said it was optional, because I forgot. Yes, there are only 4 ingredients, and I forgot one of them. Nuff said. The kids are 5, they won't notice. Oh....but the mom's, darn it, I forgot about the other mom's. They are probably all homemakers extraordinaire, they will all know that I suck at even the simplest "baking". I may have to spike their tea.

I had thought ahead, though, and lined the pan with plastic wrap that I had sprayed with Canola so at least the removal from the baking pan wasn't a nightmare!

As I was pressing the whole schmoz into the pan I realized that I was crushing all of Rice Krispies. Boy you need to press hard, I was manhandling the stuff and it still wouldn't go nice and flat like the picture. Oh well, my squares have character.

But now what. How the heck do I get the remainder out of the sauce pan? I mean, it is like glue. I put it back on the burner and then as soon as some melted I would quickly eat it before it could harden again. My stomach hurts now and there is still lots left in the pan! This is a process people! So this is my question to you. Is there some secret that I'm missing out on on how to clean the damn pan?!!!

Ah, maybe I should just chuck it....