Sapphires today

If I were an anniversary, that is what I should get... but I'm not an anniversary. It is, however, my birthday and I am 45 years old today. I don't feel 45 at all but that is what the math comes to when you take away my birth year from this year so that is what I am.

It has been a nice day so far. I should have cleaned up but I didn't. My folks came down and I showed off my present - a new 4K smart television. I played a bit of "Rogue One" for them because the picture is awesome and that movie is epic from a cinegraphic standpoint. Is cinegraphic even a word? Oh well, it is now. After that, we went downtown to have some lunch. A cute place with the best French fries. It's called "A Matter of Taste". The sweet tea is heavenly and the fries can't be beat, I swear. I have never gotten a bad meal there, ever. Once we finished, Mama and I went down to "Quilts on Plum Lane" to wander around and Daddy went up to his favorite antique shoppe. My downtown is 90% antique establishments. It is what we are known for, I think. Oh, but between lunch and shops, I hopped into Olga's and got an assorted dozen donuts! That bakery makes the best donuts, I swear.

I'm home now, waiting on Hobbit to pop in from school. Since it's my birthday, I get a free drink from Starbucks. I need to get a card for my Secret Santa at work and see if I can't find one or two more things for Pokey to open on Christmas morning. I'll have Hobbit with me so that should make things easier. He is just not an easy man to buy for because all he does is go to work and play Elder Scrolls. Limits the possibilities.

I think I'll play my recorder for a bit while the house is my own. Nice way to unwind before the second half of my birthday begins.

My gracious!

What a week it has been. The first week back from a vacation is always hard but this one has seemed abundantly so, for various reasons. Some I can share, some I can share in time, and some I may just need to allow to slip away with time because they don't hold any value - to me or you, as there is no lesson to be learned or shared. They were just moments of nastiness that happen and it is always best to just let them go and not allow them to sink in and become a part of the fabric of your soul.

I had a lovely surprise on Monday this week - an unexpected day off! I must have known that I was going to need an extra to recuperate because I headed in to work at 5 am and did not even notice I wasn't supposed to be there until 7 am. Once I did notice though, I debated for a hot minute as to whether or not I would rescind my PTO or just take it... and I took it. I put Hobbit on the bus and took the day to get the house back in order and just relax. I even inadvertently took a nap!

Tuesday, I received some unfortunate news but that is a message for a different day. Tuesday night is the blessing I want to focus on, and oh what a blessing it was! Hobbit was chosen to deliver her TEDx speech for the school competition. Now, to stress how much of an honor this was just to get to the school competition, let me outline the process really quickly. Each teacher has six classes and from those six classes, they had to chose two students - from their combined student total - to send to the school competition. So out of roughly 150 kids, the teacher could only nominate two to move on to the school competition. Hobbit was one of those two for her Language Arts teacher!

There appeared to be 4 6th graders, 3 7th graders, and 9 8th graders who earned the honor of presenting their speeches. The topic was "Taking a Stand"... and guess what...

My precious baby girl won 1st Place and is on her way to District presentations!

We are so stinking proud of her! One of the judges was a local news producer and she gushed over how poised, elegant, articulate, and fabulous she was. She said that Hobbit just blew everyone else out of the water, she was so magnificent. They said their awe was multiplied even further when they found out she was just in 6th grade! The Cambridge Director (prestigious program where the kids can take classes and work towards college credits from the Cambridge University in Great Britain) came over and asked why she wasn’t in the program and “oh by the way”, she was granted approval for her to go in for 7th grade (apparently unheard of - I overheard that all her teachers, the principal, and assistant principal all wrote letters of recommendations for her!). Her teacher and the assistant principal were fawning all over her after she won, telling her how proud they were of her, and how they knew how awesome she was but even they were gobsmacked over her presentation.

My little girl, who is only 11, beat out kids who were up to 13 years old! The other kids all applauded her and congratulated her. She cried because she hears all the time from us how smart she is (think Sheldon Cooper, that’s her - even down to missing the social queues) but to hear it from everyone else was just amazing to her. She said that maybe she should start believing how smart she is… and she really is… like, the highest you can score on the test for placement into the gifted program is 145… she scored 144 and once she explained her reasoning (in 3rd grade when she was tested), the person understood why she answered the one question as she did which prompted that question to be thrown out of future testing due to her “argument” of it being invalid. Although, being as she is, she’s been targeted by bullies and had a very rough go of it in school which this year has caused some challenges. So needless to say, this win was huge!

Wednesday I just enjoyed having the day off of work. I started a shawl with yarn that my best friend left for me to use. I am going to send it to her when I'm done. I have been working on it off and on, even during church this morning... church, wow... but I'll share that in a few minutes. I will, however, share the progress of the shawl right now though.

The pattern is Henslowe by Beth Kling and the yarn is Unisono by Zitron in colorway 1260.

I am interested to see how this yarn plays out. There is some burgundy in there as well that I just haven't gotten to but I am thinking it will be coming into play here soon when I finish that delicious chocolate brown.

Thursday and Friday were just blurred together for various reasons, some good and some not so good but like I said, I will share in time. To gauge how the day was, it required a lot of the following to help get me through...

I murdered some tea this past week. I got an electric kettle for the office so that helped. Sweet & white for the win, always.

Yesterday, Hobbit came down with a cold so I ended up going to visit my folks solo. Pokey stayed home with her and I got some Mama and Daddy time. The first thing we did...

It's still a little strange not seeing my beautiful blue locks!

I know, crazy right! Where is the blue?!? It's been there for over a year now - yes, a whole year I have rocked blue hair. I know it wasn't a favorite look for my mama or my husband, honestly, but it was something I needed to do for me. It was crazy and daring and did you know that the shade of blue I chose was the same as the ribbon color for social anxiety? I didn't either when I chose but I thought it was super appropriate afterwards. My natural hair color is more of an ash strawberry blonde but I didn't want to bleach my hair again so I went a shade or two darker with "natural light auburn" to make sure that the blue was covered and didn't pop out green. It took one bottle for my hair and two for my blue section but I think overall it looks nice. Just going to take some getting used to again.

Then I got to sit and knit with my mama before I had to leave to get back home. I had made a mistake with my shawl while I was anxiety knitting in Cracker Barrel waiting for my husband to show up on Friday night. I don't know what I did but I managed to make a perfect circular hole in a spot just left of center. I believe I may have knit and pulled it over without actually dropping the stitch. Either way, I couldn't figure out how to fix it so I brought it with me to show my mama who can fix anything.

"Here, you work on mine while I fix yours".

Yep, that's what happened. She handed me her yellow baby sweater and I knit on it while she frogged and picked up all the stitches back to before the mess up. I am not good at picking them back. I can fix a dropped stitch without a challenge but since there was nothing dropped, I was just lost. I was ripping it out slowly, thinking I might could put it back together but she offered so we traded. I love knitting with my mama. It is honestly one of my most favorite parts of any visit... just sitting quietly in the room together, my daddy reading and us doing some kind of handicraft.

That brings me to today.. and church. Man oh man, what a message. You see, I haven't found a church home in town so I started "attending" Lakewood Church. Yes, the Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas which is home to Pastor Joel Olsteen. I love his messages and I always walk away refreshed, renewed, and rejuvenated for the week. When Pastor Joel is away, Pastor John Gray steps in and man, that man is ate up with the Spirit, let me tell you! I watched service last night and Saturday services are relaxed. The messages are still good and on point but just more relaxed - jeans, etc. Well, I sat down for early service today with my knitting in hand and I was curious if the message was going to be different. It wasn't, actually. It was the same message but interestingly enough, while I did listen to it last night, I actually heard it this morning. As Pastor John said, I am in a moment and it is "the moment before the moment". My moment is coming but this is the moment before the moment when I should work on those little indicator light items so I am right and ready for my moment. Oh yes, I heard him loud and clear - to the point that I had tears in my eyes because he was hitting everything on the head for me. It is amazing what happens when we hear instead of just listen. Have mercy. So I plan on getting right and ready. Realizing it was 90% of it for me. Execution will not be easy but if I stay mindful, I will be alright. I know, it sounds cryptic right now and I am sorry for that but I promise, there will be a time when you will collectively go "oooooohhhhhh, I get it."

So that was my week. I am excited for this week. I really am. I am hopeful, expectant, and passionately positive about the road before me this week. It is mine for the taking and I plan on planting a sign in the middle of it with my name on it. Look out World, here I come!

Keeping my face towards the sun

This is my motto as of late.  There has been too much negativity running around - online and in the world.  Don't get me wrong, I know there are bad things happening and they make me sad but that doesn't mean that I have to wallow in them and spread the negativity like a disease.  So I'm not.  Who is with me to keep their focus on the warmth of the sun instead of getting lost in the darkness of the shadows?

I had a beautiful day yesterday with my mama.  We wandered around shops, had a nice lunch, wandered around more shops, stopped for a sweet treat, and then went back to my house and talked for a bit.  I love spending the day with my mama.  Nothing brings in the sunshine and joy more than spending quality time with loved ones.

Today is my Sunday before my work week starts.  I have a meeting to attend at work tonight around 7ish and while it is not my favorite thing to do - go to work on my day off - at least I get paid a percentage of my regular wages to sit and listen... plus, I don't have to go anywhere but my office so it could be a larger inconvenience.  In the big scheme of things, 25 steps from the living room to the office in my stocking feet and sweatpants is not so bad.

I'm going to spend the day at Pemberley with my Hitchhiker while I do the laundry.  I only have 7 teeth left, which has me so excited I could bust. The rows are so very long now.  It might be unrealistic to think I could finish it today but hey, the worst that can happen is that I fall short - the best is that I get closer to my goal - so there really isn't a down side.

To celebrate this terrific Tuesday, I'm sharing a bit of Pemberley with you too... enjoy!

One down, three to go

This is going to it's new house tomorrow.  I really like how it turned out - I hope she does too!

My Detention OWL has four shawls needing to be finished.  This is the first one that I have completed.  I used my new blocking mats and wires last night to get it to bloom so nicely.  It is huge, let me tell you.  It took up my entire office floor - look...

The wingspan reached 64" and the length from center is 32"... it's massive and soft and fabulous!

I really like the difference using blocking wires makes.  My edges are crisp and straight.  My lace really opened up and the peaks are perfect.  I think next time though, I will place a wire between the body and the lace edge so I can open the lace a bit more.

Today I was supposed to have been spent tooling around with my mama but she had to cancel.  I understand - she had a severe allergic reaction to the material they used to strip the wallpaper border from her kitchen.  By Saturday night, she was in the ER, it was that scary.  Today, three days later, she's still covered in hives and miserable but at least she can breathe and her face isn't swollen any longer.  It was scary - scarier to me because I've been there myself so I know how she feels and what she is going through.  We've rescheduled for week after next so I will still get to see her, just not today.  I really needed a "Mommy Daughter Day" too... but I will simply readjust my day and wait until the end of the month.  I've been fighting a cold anyway so I'm pretty miserable too.  To celebrate my mama, here is the tune for today - enjoy!

All my blessings

My wonderful family, posing as I requested for our first family portrait - ever!

Yesterday was simply amazing.  I found all of my blessings in life under one roof.  I have amazing parents, a wonderful brother who married a sweet woman, an awesome husband, and fabulous kids.  The time we are able to all get together is precious.  I enjoyed yesterday so much and I hope that we won't have to let six and a half years pass by again before we are able to get back together.

We truly are a silly lot.  God, I love my family so much.  Thank you for making them mine!

Such fun

Okay, so I'm still dealing with Miranda Hart deciding to pull the plug on one of my most favorite shows.  She is so hilarious and if you have a subscription to Hulu then you simply must watch all three seasons of "Miranda" - you'll thank me for it if you've not yet seen it.

This past weekend we went up to see Peanut at school.  It was Parents Weekend and while there were many things that I would love to have changed about it all, getting to spend that time with her was wonderful.  How do I know that it was a blast - I didn't take hardly any photographs!!

We spent the morning wandering around St. George Street.

Peanut's roommate, Peanut, and Hobbit deciding if there is something on the menu they like.

My beautiful Peanut.  My word, I'm so stinking proud of her.  She's grown into a fabulous young lady.

My precious little Hobbit.  One day, she'll be all grown up too - my word, how time flies!

Peanut's roommate soon learned to just 'go with it', as Peanut told her.  She was a sweet girl.

My most awesome - and oh so sexy - Pokey.  I loved having my family all together around the table.

My girls being silly - Peanut is stooping so Hobbit can get her arm around her.

A legendary 4 hour game of Monopoly that ended with Hobbit, who has never played, being victorious!

This game was epic... can you see why?

Peanut showing Hobbit her room - and yes, she drew most of those images on her wall.

After the epic game of Monopoly, we all watched a family favorite - Undercover Blues... someone fell asleep with her puppy.

Spending time with my whole family together brings me such joy.  I love having my entire heart in one spot instead of split across the state.  The only thing that would have made it perfect would have been my parents being able to go too.

Next year, we're just going to hang at my folks' house instead.  Too many tourists and not enough quiet family time... but I'll take any time I can get because I know pretty soon, what little time I have will be gone as well.

Hug your loved ones - call them and tell them you love them if they aren't close by - but never take your family for granted.  The time comes all too quickly when they aren't so never wait for tomorrow what you can tell them today.

Luckiest of days!

Today is my mama's birthday and I made her this precious and super happy wreath.

She gave me this yarn for Christmas and since we both love bright colors, I couldn't resist using it for her.

She can hang it inside or out on her covered porch - her favorite place to be in the universe is out there rocking.

I also made her this hotpad to brighten up her table because my mama loves rainbows.

I made her this one as well because it's just too much fun playing with the neon yarns and she needs new hotpads.

Happy Birthday, Mama... and Happy 45th Anniversary to you and Daddy tomorrow - I love you both so very much!

All those things I couldn't share before...

I can share now!  All homemade presents have been opened so I can share what all I've been working on these past few months.

My daddy knows... bow ties are cool!  I'm sure this is now a headband for Peanut or Mama but still, he got it.

He didn't put them on because had shoes on but I made him these slippers. He seemed happy to get them.

Mama and Peanut in their bows - and Mama with her hotpads that I made for her.  She loved them.

These are what they looked like - she thought the colors were wonderful and I know they'll get a lot of use.

Peanut in the lacy edged headband that I made for her.  It was just super lucky that she had on the this dress.

Because it went perfectly with Victorian Cape I made - pattern from 1904!

I told her about weaving the ribbon through that first row of white stitches and making a bow instead of using the broach.

Then we came home and waited for Santa to come visit us at our house.

Pokey loved his new Nook case - you can get the pattern here.

Hobbit got a smaller version for her new tablet that Santa brought for her.

She also got a new headband and a pretty snuggly purple capelet that she loved.

I even managed to get a 'non-squishy' shot of it so you can see.

Oh and don't worry about me - I got some awesome yarny goodness tossed my way as well...

1018 yards of awesome neon goodness... and 3 skeins of accidentally coordinating Homespun!

I hope that everyone has a very happy Christmas, full of love and laughter and yarny goodness.

May you be blessed today and all year through.

Sunday Snaps

We started the week with a visit to my folk's house.  There was kite flying, crafting and general silliness...

While there, the most awesome of project bags ever made from my hook got fully lined with pockets and a zipper!

I made Hobbit a hat that she has worn every day since because the weather has been very typically FL Fall...

That means lots of rain.  I love it but apparently I am in the minority for this - along with hoping for a cold winter.

It's been pretty uneventful around here.  This coming week proves to be different so I'm soaking up this last day of relaxed bliss before charging head first into October.

The Mama and the Mamaw

This song was in my head this morning. It always makes me so happy and it makes me think of my Mamaw - she passed when I was just a baby so I don't remember her but I have created my idea of her based off of stories that my mama has told me over the years.

 In my head, she is Doris Day - full of beauty and grace with just the right amount of sass - and this music - all bubbly and bouncy and full of life - is what I think of whenever I think of her.

 So this is for my mama and my Mamaw, two beautiful women that I would have not had the honor of knowing if it weren't for the other.

Sunday Snaps

Hobbit started school this week and so far, she's loving it...

The days start out beautiful but by suppertime, we're in the middle of a deluge...

Hobbit has decided this year she will be "high fashion".  It apparently looks like this...

Still plugging away on this and my book - though progress is slower here...

Peanut got settled in to her dorm yesterday.  She's so tickled and excited to be home.

It's been a super crazy busy week with a lot of firsts.  Pokey's computer gave up the good fight but thankfully a jar full of changed saved the day.  Hobbit started 3rd grade and is over the moon excited about earning "real letter grades" for her work - and the payout for good report cards doesn't hurt either.  Peanut went up to college yesterday and is enjoying her first weekend of the year.  Her dorm is beautiful and the rooms are huge.  It pays to have 67% of your campus registered as historical structures - it means 12' ceilings in your room and space to move around!  Today we're headed up to see Mama and help her with some chores... the payout is watching "Epic" and not having to cook supper so that works.

Hope y'all have a fabulous week - lots more exciting things ahead... like weekends off in September.  Guess who is a jazzed little concierge... me!!