What I did on my summer vacation

Here's the fam on a golf cart in Put-In-Bay. It's the only way to see all the island, other than just the bars. Imagine my surprise to see there is more to PIB than that.

We went to a Chocolate Museum, The Perry's Monument, shopped, eat and drank a beer or two. Just Rob and I not the boys!

New Arrival!

"Here she is, Miss American", that's the song I'm hearing when I look at her. She is my sister's new grandbaby - Kayleigh Michelle. I guess that makes me a great aunt, but I was a "great" aunt before. hehehe. She has a head full of jet black hair and looks just like my nephew. FINALLY, a girl to buy pink things for! YEAH!!!

Black Belt Dude

Finally, after 3 broken bones, the first happened on his first day, Ryan has his black belt. It was 3 long years of twice a week classes and he stuck with it. He is taking a little time off, thank God, this is one expensive sport. He wants to take drum and trumpet lessons now. Oh Yeah!

Prom Master

Yup, my little boy got asked to prom, by a Junior. Grandpa says it's those fine blue eyes that will get him into trouble - girls can't resist'em. He was very excited and looked very handsome, IMHO!!
These 12 young people all had to fit into 1 limo, thank God it was a big one. Some did double up. They're all from the band and had a really great time. With all the moms and dads there, the flashes from the cameras almost blinded them. I told them we were the paparazzi. Get used to it!

Kayleigh's bunny

I can't stop knitting tiny things. It's so rewarding to start and finish a project in less than two days. Love love love it.

It's this cute. It's a Bunny Buddy. Hope Kayleigh will love it to pieces, then I can make a new one.

Honestly - I do knit!

I can't believe I haven't posted in over a month. Please forgive me. Not that anyone reads this blog anyway. But it's a good log for myself. I have been busy, enjoying the weather - yahoo! Enjoying the 70s in Ohio. It must be a dream. I have also been knitting. Just finished a little project - this baby bid from One Skein. It's in a lovely purple yarn that will go to my grand-niece due in May. I have discovered I like fast, little projects, instant gratification of a finished project. Right now I am knitting a Bunny Buddy for her. I got the pattern off Ravelry. If you haven't been out to Ravelry yet - be warned it will suck up a lot of knitting time. I have amassed quite a few patterns from that sight. And that's where the bunny came from. Watch for it soon!

Fair Isle?

This is my most recently completed knit project, a skull wrist warmer for Kyle. I think it's Fair Isle but not sure. Also not sure if I did it right but as long as I am consistly wrong, it's right. Right? He hasn't stopped warning it and is trying to talk me into another one. But before I do another one, maybe I should look into what I may, or may not, have done wrong.

Meet Sheldon

It's he the cutest little turtle you've ever seen? I knit this little guy up for Ryan for Valentine's
day and he loves it. It was a little more fiddly than I thought it would be but I learned a few new things and it was fun. He's my first knit toy too. Ryan was surprised to know that I knit this while he was at school and I did a little right in front of him but he wasn't paying attention to whatever mom was doing. hehehe

Smile!

Don't we look happy? We should, we were on a cruise when this was taken. That was before the house selling and buying and Christmas! Why didn't they photo shop out my hips??

Who's cookin' now?

Yup, I hate to admit it but I kind of like cooking. Now I hate the whole go to store, buy ingredients and bring home and find a place to put the stuff until you use it part and I hate the clean up part but the slicing and dicing and creating part I love. And finding recipes to try is the best. The best way to find a good recipe is when I worked, co-workers would bring their leftovers to work and I'd smell it and want the recipe. Tried and true is always the best. My mom was a stay at home mom before there was such a thing. She always cooked, we hardly ever went out. If we did it was for lunch and not a big dinner. Dad worked the night shift so meals where somewhat odd but we had 3 meals a day and we didn't ask "What's for dinner...ewwww" back then either. You ate or went hungry. So that's the way I do it. There are very few exceptions to where I will let my boys make a PB&J sandwich but 99% of the time we eat what I cook. And they eat a wide range of foods too. Some things I eat now I'd never heard of before meeting Rob. My family are/is hill billy and we eat meat and veggies. But now we eat Mexican and Chinese and Italian foods. Where does one get hill billy food? You should have seen my dad's face when we announced where Rob and I were having our rehearsal dinner - the Kahiki. Polynesian food, whoa! I'm pretty sure he hit the McDonalds on the way home. But I digress, what we have here is my first attempt at Cajun Red Beans and Rice. With this recipe I learned what Salt Pork is. Now don't go assuming that because I cook hill billy I ought to know what that is. I know what fat back and a ham hock is but I hadn't heard of Salt Pork. Thank goodness the meat lady at Meijers knew. And it all turned out fine. Probably not as hot as it would be in New Orleans but hot enough for us. We all loved it. The boys especially loved it. Now I gotta add it to my family favorites. Don't ya want smell-a-blog?

What was I thinking??

Friends told me I was crazy but that wasn't news. I've been like that for-ever! Santa brought

the boys an electric guitar and drum set. As the boys are getting older it's getting harder to buy for them at Christmas. Gone are the days when a box of legos would do. And frankly they don't need anymore clothes. So that's my reasoning for saying yes to these instruments of torture. The good thing is they play or shall I say try to play music from my era. Music I can rock to. What I should have done is asked Santa to bring me some Bose noise reducing head phones.

Let's Craft a while

Finally back to blogin' and knitin' and just enjoying the new house. Spent this weekend organizing my craft area. Can't really call it a room, only has 3 sides but it's bigger than the room I used to have. Completely unpacked and only bought two new things to organize onto/into. Bought a 3 drawer plastic things and those shelves you see in the back. It was fun. And now when I need something, I know exactly where it is. If I can keep the boys out of it, that would be a miracle.

Moving Update

Sorry no pictures as I am too busy, can't find the camera, can't find batteries to go in it, probably packed it and too embrassed to show you all the crap I am moving. It's pretty sad when the movers say "Boy, you have a lot of boxes!" and you'd think they have seen a lot of boxes. Maybe crafty people don't use movers. Money should be spent on crafty things, like yarn.
In trying to save money for said yarn, we tried to find some kids to help us move just our boxes. But no! No one from the high school band, the church or the hockey team. I guess $10 an hour just isn't enough for them. Boy, are we in trouble when they get older and run the country. So we decided to have a mover do it all - yahoo! And they will deliver to me all the boxes I need for .50 cents each. No more dumpster diving stories for me.
As for the new house, the HVAC people came out and it needs a new motor! Now, I don't know much, or anything, about such things other than it makes me comfortable, but a motor sounds expensive, glad we had the house inspected. And the ants are an issue and we have requested a $1000 for the rest of the little things. Now we just have to wait for the seller to get back in the COUNTRY! and we can move on/in. Still on track for closing both on 11/21. This is the season of miracles, right? I also found out there was a judgement under me. Who knew. I guess they just search my name and Lisa Richards is pretty common. I was told just to sign a paper stating it isn't/wasn't me and all is well. Stay tuned for "Lisa's Young and Restless move of our lives"

I found boxes!

I believe totally in asking for other peoples advise because there are definately times that others think of things I totally wouldn't have. For example a good friend of mine (Gerry!) told me to go to dollar stores to hunt for boxes because sometimes the workers don't break them down like they should - ya know, minimum wage. So I did and boys did I hit the motherload (exactly what a motherload really is, I have no idea but that's what they say). Actually the hunt was kind of like garage saleing. I hunted behind every little plaza shopping center that I was driving by that I thought wouldn't have the a compactor like the big stores have. And there were boxes a plenty. I was soooo excited. It's kind of sad really but whatever. I even took boxes there were broken down - I have tape.

Then a few days later the dear hubby went with me to fetch more boxes, he likes free stuff too. We went to the same dumpsters (Yep, I am trailer trash that dumpster dives) except at one we had a bit of a surprise. I noticed what looked like a new sweatshirt rolled up and stuck in the corner of one of the dumpsters. Beside it was an autographed basketball that was still in it's acrylic display case thingy. Using my powers of reasoning, it looked like someone had stashed some stolen goods!!!! Whoa momma, I hadn't even thought that something sinister would be lurking around in these cardboard box dumpsters, my euphoria was gone. But I did the responsible thing and called the police. After they called me back several times for a description of what I saw they sent someone out. We left because you never know if or when they might show up but on they way home we saw the security truck from the shopping center and the police car. So far no word or what else they found if anything. You do a lot of "What if-ing" when something like that happens. Like what if there was a gun or something wrapped in the sweatshirt? What if someone was watching us? What if you are nuts? But this shall not stop me from dumpster diving (not actually diving, just reaching in) but I won't go alone.

Almost Mine!

A little updating on the house selling, buying front. We have had the inspection on this house with only minor things to repair, more than half Rob can do. And yesterday the appraisal was done. We hope there isn't any issues with that but we'll know probably by the end of the week if the buyers are approved based on the appraisal. Tomorrow we have the inspection on the new house. I am nervous. There hasn't been anyone living in the house for quite some time. And I know there is carpenter ants in the office. My realtors assure me that if you have any insects, carpenter ants are the easiest to remedy. We'll see what happens. All the extra expenses, like inspections ($400) and such are adding up. It's going to be a slim Christmas this year. I also had a moving company give me an estimate today. If they move EVERYTHING, room to room with set up we are looking at $1500. They do also gave me estimates if we move the small stuff and they do just the big things. Which was more reasonable. I do have a call out to any youth groups or boy scouts that might like to make some money helping with the smaller things. Isn't a house made up of the small things? I know my craft room is. I have also been collecting boxes. We will need probably 150 according to the movers. I have heard that you can "rent" boxes for about $.50 each - might have to check that out. Or my new haunts will be all the grocery stores within a 10 mile radius of Gahanna. But it's almost mine! Is it Christmas yet??

Real Estate action!

I am soooooo excited I can't take it. The #1 house on our wish list just lowered the price by $30,000 - WOW! Now we can lower ours and make a bid on this one contingent on the sale of ours of course but now we have something happening - and I am really going to be on my knees about this house. It's perfect for us with just the new things we were looking for. First floor laundry with enough room for the cat box......now I can get it out of my closet. I know that sounds yucky but she's a clean cat. It also has a den/office, yahoo no more computer in the basement and household paperwork where is should be and not all over the dinning room table. Corian countertops - love it!! And no deck - a paver brick patio and walkway and driveway. Oh yeah, and a 3 car garage. Those are the things we wanted no more, and no less. And believe me we have seen some houses with a lot more that we needed. We are meeting with our agents tonight to make the bid and lower ours enough to generate some action. At this point I will paint anything that will sell this house. Sadly this probably means no knitting or working on the demin quilt for a while but some sacrifies are worth it. Anyone like to paint????? Call me.

Nighty night

I wish I could fall sleep like this. Notice his hands are still trying to turn the page but nope - out go the lights. I can remember a time when I could eat a big piece of chocolate cake and down a bottle (yup, pop used to come in bottles) of Pepsi and fall right to sleep. Now I need pills!!!! Crap, I hate getting old. When I do sleep I get up and something hurts (knees, back, feet) - exactly how do you hurt yourself while sleeping??? Certain things also cause heartburn/gas, that's pleasant. I find myself asking "What did I eat last night, don't want to have that again." As if my pants have room for bloating! I have also started not caring about what I wear in public, as long as I am clean and my bod is covered, who cares. I do care if going to Easton or someplace nice for dinner. By nice I mean doesn't have a drive through. Anyone else out there with me on this or am I all alone in bleach spotted shorts.

A rant comin' on!

Yup, I feel a rant coming on. But before I do I must disclaim that I am in no way jealous of her size, tinny tininess and all because I wouldn't mind being that small at all. I have even said before that if I were as tiny at say.....Delana (nothing but love for ya girl) I would run necked (southern for naked and sounds dirtier) on Broad and High at noon. But in doing so I would expect to be noticed - both in positive ways and in negative ways. Now Miss Hot pants wasn't too happy with being noticed in a negative way. Boo Hoo Hoo!!! Shut UP and put on some big girl panties. I'm sure that you are not used to wearing those either. She has been on the Today show and yesterday it was Ellen. Knowing full well that these two shows are smack dab in the middle of the political left arena I wasn't surprised that their position was on of Miss Hot pants' freedom being trampled on. "She should be able to wear what she wants", and to quote Miss Hot pants "Why is my comfort level any different than anyone elses?" And it's not, everyone is suppose to be able to do what they want, say what they want, and wear what they want as long as it isn't hurting (physically) anyone but not today. We can do or say much of anything for fear that we might offend someone....crap crap crap. Political correctness has gone too far, just ask Don Imus, Cramer from Seinfeld, and the Columbus Policewoman who has/had the YouTube video. I thought I was allowed to do, say, wear whatever and YOU didn't have to like it. Wasn't that the freedom we were given??? Now we all have to "get along" to the point of losing our freedoms.

Cute!

How cute is this dog??? So much so that she just knows she is NOT a dog at all. This is her favorite place to lay, Mom's lap on mom's arm. Makes it very difficult to knit. But that shouldn't be my first priority with a dog as cute as this. I can't believe the picture came out so well, animals usually get that evil red eye ghost look to them.

Can anyone tell me what the &@#* is up with my elbow? Looks like a nose or a huge nipple. Crap!












Now for the embrassing pictures that all parents take of their kids and that red eye ghost look too.

Let's go Campin'

Some, not many, but some are asking where I've been lately. I haven't been knitting or doing much of anything social in quite some time. So here is where I have been. We have recently bought a 36 ft camper that is permanently at Charles Mills Lake. We have been cleaning and cleaning and cleaning it for about 3 weekends now and I think we are done. I KNOW I am. It's nice, with a/c and heating, microwave, fridge/freezer, potty and shower and queen size bed. Ok, it's not really camping but it is a camper and it's in a campground so it's campisque. The boys love it - Kyle calls it his home away from home. The other seasonal campers around us are all real nice we all just borrow whatever we need from each other. They are trying to get us to loosen up a bit and not lock up everything everytime we leave. They say it's not like the big city. That may be true but I've watched enough TV to know creeps are everywhere. So forgive me for locking up. Can you hear the banjo playing in the background???