all of our dreams would come true

- what else can a poor boy do

I feel like Quasimodo, or Sloth or John Merrick.

I’m slogging through a nasty first cold of the season. The kids both had it two weeks ago and Patrick had it last weekend. I’ve had it for 3 days and today is the worst so far. I’m achy to the point where my body feels strangey proportioned, totally congested, I can’t breathe through my nose and find myself slurping occasionally to keep myself from drooling – hence the above mentioned names.

Patrick went grocery shopping last night and I told him to bring me home a whole chicken so I could make soup today. I started it this morning and then, knowing that my FIL was on his way out here today to help Patrick with the construction of the new sugar shack, my MIL called and offered to send lots of freezer goodies including soups!! Yeah! I live on soup when I’m sick and nobody else in the house really likes it so its all mine. She also sent a couple roaster chickens from the grocery store – now I don’t have to cook dinner. love my MIL!

In my couch bound lasstitude I’m working on projects for my crochet 1 class. I keep all my goodies for the class in a little suitcase. See, examples of all the finished class projects all laid in there so nicely.

This is the rest of the stuff that gets piled on top! HA! I’m not as organized as you think! ( that awesome little chicken stapler was a gift from Bonnie who was a student in my last session – isn’t it the best!!)

So back to finishing up my latest two-sided potholder/hot pad and I’ll probably start the scarf since its a longish project, but I also have a sweater vest I’m test knitting and my own scarf/shrug project to keep on keepin on with.

Ah the comfort of soup and fiber, makes a girl feel better. 

toots

Lo Que Fui Es Lo Que Soy

- as if you were the owner of pants to cover me

I may actually be crazy – and yes, I know I’ve said that before.

Look! Vegetarian colors!!!!! If you don’t know what I’m talking about – I’ll edumacate you, but in private

 e-mail me. ChickenBetty at Gmail dot com

I would not admit, in public, that you don’t recognize the progessive colors of Edwards eyes as he gets hungy. 

Jusy saying.

Toots

Give me the grace to hold my line

- there’s nothing to waste, it’s only light

Welcome to everyone traveling over from Susan B. Anderson‘s lovely site. Click on the winking smile for my musical inspiration of the day. C’mon in! The crazy is fine.

Some days I think, “Children be damned!”, I want to pull the bus over and grab my camera and live in happy-picture-taking-land. Alas, the schools, the parents, and the company I work for, I’m sure, wouldn’t be so keen on all that. I bet the kids would be fine with it though. “Sorry kids. You’re gonna be a little late to school today. There’s a leaf over there with really cool bug damage that I just need to snap a few pics of, and OH! is that a red tailed hawk!?! Hey look at ….”

Today I saw 5 separate flocks of wild turkeys with a wide range of ages from almost grown juveniles to mere chicks – poor littles are in for a tough fall. Its pretty impressive to see that many of these birds on my little 16 mile loop when you consider that they were almost completely wiped out in New England (the last known native bird in Massachusetts was killed on Mt. Tom in 1851) and only reintroduced in 1972.

Most of my bus route is pretty rural and I drive it 4 times a day but I get to see some pretty beautiful stuff. The only bummer is that everything is SO beautiful in the dawn/early morning light that trying to go back and capture it later in the day with my camera just isn’t the same. This morning there were dozens of spiderwebs all decked out in morning dew between the power lines over Knights Pond, the turkeys, a moose – if I happen to mention how absolutely huge these creatures are, in the case that I see another one, believe me! I drive a school bus and the things head was almost even with mine! 

So, no wild turkey pics but I do have lovely new yarn to show you!! See, I’m all about the mollifying.I have 3 Twilight inspired bits on the needles/hooks right now. Two are mine and one is a test knit. This:

is for a scarf and fingerless mitt set called “Reminder and a Promise”. SO yummy, the Shibui is to die for! I want to crawl into it. And the pearl cotton was a total steal at Webs – 10 little skeins for $3.50! 280yds for less than 5 bucks. I can’t wait to get this one out of final design tweaking and really get working with it.

Thats it for today. The Hubby is off to CT to pick up a load of bricks and cinderblocks to build the arch – essentially the oven – for the new in-progress sugar shack for 2009. That’s right a REAL sugar shack, not pallets and plastic wrap anymore! And we even have a name for it. Ready?

Occasional Creek Maple

*giggle*

Toots

I’m hooked and I can’t stop staring

– baby got it going on!

So yesterday was “Talk like a pirate day” , and folks have been celebratin’ pirate life left and right round these parts. Coincidence – I think not! – that I should stumble upon treasure on just such a day. She was just sittin there on the side of the road with a pile of broken useless stuff.

Isn’t she beautiful!

When I got home I didn’t want to put her out in the garage – I wanted her in the house dang it! but I didn’t have a place for her. What to do?

Make a place by rearranging the living room.

S’alright, the rearrange has been pending for about a month now, little bits have been done here and there but the major move just kept getting put off. Not anymore! I am super thrilled with the new layout, it feels like 2 separate spaces – the iving room and the “office” which is what we’ve wanted. Plus I managed to work a little games table in there for the girls.

Many yarny endeavors are on the needles/hooks right now. I’ll post about many of them soon. This week has just been too crazy to sit down and think about but the pace will slacken back to normal next week. Right now I have dishes to do, dinner to get ready and 2 girls to get dressed for a soccer game.

oh and yesterday I found, also buried in that pile of stuff on the side of the roaf, this great lidded basket, I pinned a bit of lining fabric into it and piled all my yarny works-in-progress into in.

toots

Hey, Summer!

– where ya been?

Last winter I made a lovely scarf to lift my winter blues. Remember?

After a couple pokes and prods, I finally got around to writing up a pattern. I’m not sure if you can get your hands on that brown/blue combo of the yarn anymore  - it was hard to find for awhile, but any dk weight silk or silk blend of your choice should work just as well. And I’d love to see how it looks in other yarns! The pdf is here.  The Ravelry link is here. 

Enjoy!

Toots

Ain’t gonna hurt nobody

- we just dancin ya’ll

Man we had a busy weekend. 2 soccer games – one in the remnants of hurricane Hannah, one birthday party, a delivery of replacement windows, and I won a blue ribbon.

I had some gifts to make for that birthday party – luv me some wooden peoples.

I finished a sock for myself

I stitched together some felt grahamn crackers – and posted a tutorial so you can make some too. (I’m sort of stuck on the idea of making saltines or oyster csrackers now)

and long ago I promised picks of the monkey Mama for my amigurumi class this month at Webs.

Oh yeah, and that ribbon…

Today I received a Blue Ribbon from Bonnie over at BluePeninsula. I love the inspiration that she finds in this beautiful corner of the Happy Valley that we live in. I am also thrilled by her crochet progress – shhh she was a student of mine and she picked it all up awesomely!! And now I get to pass the wonderfulness along.
1) Post the award on your blog. - mm hmm

2) Add a link to the person who gave you the award. - ayup

3) Nominate at least 4 other bloggers and add their links. – this is the fun part

4) Leave a comment at the recipients’ blogs so they can pass it on. – mwahahaha

Marti – and her little workshop, thsi girl was my first blogger friend and I adore her.

Cathy Cate at Hither and Yarn, lace, socks, motherhood and being abandoned by Brett Favre, what a woman

Cate and her Bee’s Knees awsomeness, I love her artwork and watching her burgeoning fiber addiction

Em and her Gang – she’s all about the chickens lately, love it!, and her quilting and family, yeah

So there you go chickadees, I’m off to enjoy another film with the Hubby (the Machinist last night, and We Don’t Live Here Anymore tonight.) There’s future maple happenings gaining ground out in the yard and more yarny projects to come so stay tuned.

Toots

my morals got me on my knees

- but you got me good

Its official. I am – in name – what I swore, SWORE, as a newlywed, that I would never become.

a soccer mom

DUDE! its awesome! not the other parents or anything, although their coach is a nice looking man. I love watching my girls running around playing this game.

(I’m not big on “other parents” ask my friends. I’m pretty solitary at the playground, I have my yarn and my mp3′s – don’t need anything else)

They have their first game this afternoon. They are team 3, otherwise known as – and they chose to be called this! – The Swamp Monsters. uh huh.

Toots

never, never, never, never

I think It would be hard for me to identify a time when i was more ashamed of being a woman than I am right now, listening to Sarah Palin – blaahaaaaah – bleat out her sheeple, regurgitated-republican puke.

I think I may actually be physically sick.

* I typed out a whole lot more as I listened to her read the speech that someone wrote for her and I just… its too much. Its all so, so wrong. I’m so angry and disgusted that anyone could say these things and that anyone could believe them*

Crap. I have to get up in 6 hours and my brain is on fire.

You know that I’m no good

– I told you I was trouble

The hands. They are weak.

So I pinned out 14 squares and stopped there because I ran out of pins – 2 left to go. And while I waited for them to dry…I started a sock. I know.

I also hit the garden for what are some of the last goodies to be had. A couple baby cukes – sweet with almost no seeds and some roma tomatoes for lunch. I’ll get maybe a handfull more greem beans but the leaves are all dying and there aren’t anymore flowers.

I also thought I’d share the monster tomato plant that sprouted from our compost – its huge! The first tomatoes that showed up are just starting to turn yellow around the edges but I swear there is a whole new cluster of fruits on that thing everytime I look at it.

Gotta go pay the car insureance and get my car inspected – have a great Tuesday!

Toots