Spinning Jenny's World

Busy, busy...

2008-06-20T07:21:00.000-07:00

Wow where do I start. Max got tubes in his ears last Tuesday so about 11 days ago. Since then the boy has started to talk up a storm. He is telling his teachers at school "want more" when he wants his snack and "All done" when he is finished. He has even said Robyn. The funniest thing he has done yet was yesterday when we were out to lunch. I was giving him pieces of my seaweed salad just to see if he would like it. When I stopped feeding him pieces he yell "not done yet!!" and tried to grab for more. It was so funny. I was very proud of him.
He has also decided as of yesterday that he actually wants to walk and he is starting to practice on his own. He got up to 7 steps.

It got worse....

2008-05-31T07:28:00.000-07:00

I was talking about the fact that little man got the stomach flu on Monday. It is now Saturday and we are home from an overnight to the hospital on Thursday. He got severely dehydrated and had to go in for IV fluids. The good news is that he is back to his happy little self and playing with his big sister. He still has the runs something fierce but is on his way to recovery. I will keep you all updated on him. Thank you to all of you who knew about him and kept me in your thoughts.

Long weekend..

2008-05-27T09:25:00.000-07:00

The wedding is finally over. Thank goodness. Hopefully everyone in the family can get beyond all the nastiness that has happened and become a happier family again. It was such a shame that the wedding was about everyone buy my Sister-in-law. But she was a beautiful bride and had a wonderful time at the wedding. Robyn was a beautiful flower girl. The little boy who was the ring bearer was the same age. At one point during the service he couldn't remember her name and kept tapping her on the knee saying, "hey pretty girl." It was so cute. They played during the whole reception and the best part is that they live near us so they will be having a play date soon.

The bummer is that last night Mister Man came down with the stomach flu and has been sick all day and all night. Hopefully we have seen the worse of it.

First Steps...

2008-05-19T12:37:00.000-07:00

Max took his first steps today!!! Just three, but it is starting. I am so so excited for my little man...

Help my Temple....

2008-05-06T08:26:00.000-07:00

Hi Guy...
This is a plead for help.. Temple Emmanuel of Wakefield had a major oil spill in Nov 2007. We are now at the end of cleaning up from the spill. The break in our oil tank leak over 700 gallons of oil into the ground. We have had to have environmental cleans and the like to be able to use the Temple again. What this means is that we are now looking at a bill of over $200K ( we are a small temple of 60 families and do not have the means to pay this). This is where you can help. We have set up several ways to earn money for the Temple without people have to donate money. Here is what they are..

iGive

We are now registered at iGive.com. This is a very simple way for all of us to help earn money for the temple without a lot of work/financial commitment.

Here's how it works: when you go to buy something online, simply go to http://www.igive.com. You will have to register the first time with this website. Choose your charity ("Temple Emmanuel of Wakefield"). Next, check to see if the vendor you are planning to make the purchase from is available (there are ~700 vendors, including many popular online sites). Click on that link and continue to shop at the vendor's site as usual. If you make a purchase, the temple will get a percentage of the price. Some stores will give us as much as 10%, but 1-2% is pretty typical.

Every time you go to purchase something online go to igive first. If the store you're looking for is registered, this can be painless for you, and very helpful for the temple.

Amazon.com

Like iGive above, but even easier. Before you buy something from Amazon click on any black Amazon logos on the Temple web site.

Anything you buy while in that session (ie until you close your browser) gets the Temple a cut for between 4 and 10% of your purchase!

As with the stores through iGive, if you're planning to "shop there anyway", why not have them send a cut back to the Temple?

Good Search.com

Now this one is the easiest one to earn money for us. It take a longer time but there is no
payout what so ever for you. Every time you search we earn 1 cent from the searches. What you need to do is go to Good Search, go to the who do you search for box and type Temple Emmanuel of Wakefield. This will become your default charity. Below it gives you the choice of putting Good Search as you search engine on your tool bar. Please do this and set it as your search engine. Every time you search using this tool box, we get one cent. Now isn't that easy?

Thank you to everyone for their help and support. Hopefully this will help us pay a huge bill.

Maxwell...

2008-05-06T08:24:00.000-07:00

On Sunday was his first birthday party. He had such a good time. Loves all his toys, but the best part was that he stood on his own. He was playing with a toy using it for support, then let go and stood. Now that he know that he can do this he is practicing standing every chance he can get.
He also found a bag of bread on the coffee table left by darling Robyn, brought it over to me and said dis... I asked him if he wanted to eat it and he shook his head and said dis... He is growing so quickly.

I have been very bad..

2008-04-24T18:46:00.000-07:00

I am sorry to all those people who check here and never see an updated blog. Life has me very busy with the kids. Maxwell is now 1 years old and is as sweet as sugar. Today when his big sister Robyn was outside playing and walked by him he yelled Rob!!! I guess we all now know what her new nickname will be until he can talk better. He is such a sweet little man and I have really enjoyed getting to know him this past year. He is now a scooter and refuses to crawl but looks like he will be walking very soon.

Robyn is a sweet, sweet girl even though she is quite the handful. Has come up with quite the interesting vocab and often tell me things with words to large for her age. Told me the other day when I said no candy that she would just organize it instead. Then funniest story with her the other day at the grocery store. We were out shopping during Passover.. OK it is still Passover but this was at the beginning of it. Every single thing that she picked up to eat was chametz (flour, corn syrup) filled goodies, I kept telling her no, you can't have this, this week. Next week. She finally broke down in the ice cream section crying. It isn't fair to us Jews making us eat all this stuff this week. We should be able to have what we want just like everyone else. I don't know why Jews have to be punished. It was the cutest thing ever. I felt awful for her, but she still couldn't have her goodies.

All tied up in a knot...

2008-01-30T15:32:00.000-08:00

I am here to actually ask a question about sock yarn. I am a long time sock knitter and just purchase some beautiful Madeline Tosh sock yarn. As I was making it in a ball I found a knot in it. Now I have over 20 skeins of sock yarn at this moment in my house, nary a knot. All of them hand dyed yarn. I wrote the owner who told me that this was standard practice and to basically cut the knot out and to knit it together... Really... no kidding I have been a knitted for over 25 years. I know how to handle a knot in my yarn. My issue is that when I am spending over $20 on a skien of yarn I expect it to be perfect, especially considering that it is hand dyed and I am assuming hand wound. Am I being unfair to this company by complaining?
TIA
Here is her letter...

I must say that one knot in a skein or ball of yarn is pretty standard in the industry. I am quite sorry that the yarn displeases you, we do strive for quality in our yarns. When the commercial yarns that we use to dye have more than one knot in a single skein it is not sent to our retailers. We believe this is a fair policy and a honest compromise between the wool mill's desire to created yarns with great yardage and the hand knitter who wants as few joins as possible in the garment they are creating.

In reference to your knitting, what I often do, is cut the yarn right before the existing knot and then join the yarn back in without the knot, the same as you would when joining a new skein of yarn.

Thank you for your input we hope to always be open, honest and fair with our Madtosh customers and feel our policies reflect that.

Sincerely,
Amy Hendrix
Owner of Madelinetosh Co.

Back to Basic Toy's- Fixed...

2008-01-05T08:00:00.000-08:00

After canceling my order through Back to Basic toy's on Christmas Eve I was going to let go of the issue. I decided to change my mind. After a little research on the company I discoveredd a couple things. One they had an employee stealing from them. They were scanning in the FedEx boxes and putting the stuff into their car. Guess who's package was one of them. The other thing I found out was that they were totally overwhelmed by the amount of orders that they received for the holidays. Something like 6 times they were expecting. Hence the shortages and just general mayhem at the company. I called them back today. I explain to them the whole issue and that I would like to give them a second chance and ask what they could do to help make things better. They are sending the toy overnight when it gets into stock and took some money off the order. Needless to say I am happy with the outcome and Robyn is going to be one happy little girl.

Scrooged by Back to Basic Toys!!!!!!

2007-12-24T09:32:00.000-08:00

This is the year for things to be ruined by others. As in my last post, my parents rained on my parade about my brother's gift. Now this. I order Robyn what was the perfect gift for her. She loves imagination play. I thought it would be a toy that she would play with for a couple of years and then Max would get to play with it. I ordered it from the above company on the 9th. Plenty of time to get it here. No rush, no worries. Around the 17th I finally got the email that the package has been sent. It will be here on the 20th. OK a little to close for comfort but I can deal. Well, I keep checking the tracking number and it doesn't show as leaving the building. I start to get a little worried. Ok, now the 20th, the package still isn't here. I call them and point out no tracking number and no gift. Just a little worried, well they lied to me. They told me on Friday, no worries it will be there on Monday. Don't worry. Well guess what, it isn't coming, it isn't in stock and they totally screwed me over.
P.S Robyn is so sweet.. she told me that she understood that I tried very hard to get her the gift, that she stilled loved me and could wait for it.

I am so annoyed...

2007-12-12T09:41:00.000-08:00

I got my brother a nice gift for Christmas.. a print of a Red Sox's baseball painted by a local artist.... It is awesome.. I told my parents about it.. So on Sunday... knowing darn well this is what I am getting him went to Building 19 and got him this... the photo of the three teams. Well shoot they got him a really wesome photo that is licensed and she wonders why I am so angry at her....

So sorry...

2007-12-10T16:45:00.000-08:00

I am so sorry that I haven't been around for a couple of weeks. Life is just so darn busy with the two kids. They really do keep me busy. We went down to CT for a whirlwind trip for Thanksgiving for Rach and her now fiance to meet his family. They are very nice. The are planning to get married at the end of this May and all hell has broken loose. For some reason I am involved in all the fights. I keep pointing out that this is not my wedding and well quite frankly the only person who gets a vote is Rach and Andy. No one seems to hear this and they are all making me crazy. Now, I planned my wedding and had fun. Leave me out of it.

I am busy writing cards for the soldiers and making blankets for them. Ok making one blanket at this point but I am trying.

Mister Man....

2007-11-18T19:55:00.000-08:00

Is starting to chatter. I can hardly believe it. He is saying Daddy... he was so cute tonight. We have finally decided it is time for him to learn to fall asleep in his crib and not nursing. Very important for learning to self sooth. As much as I hate to hear him cry, I hate the fact that if he wakes up in the middle of the night he needs to nurse to go back to sleep. So tonight when he got mad about being in his crib, he starting calling.. Daddy.. Daddy.. Daddy.... Broke my heart, but darn cute...

My Secret Pal..

2007-11-18T19:49:00.000-08:00

Rocks... She is so awesome. I know I said that I would put up a photo of the last gift but tech support (my hubby) has been real busy with life and I hate to bother him. He downloads my photos for me. I just got another package in the mail from her. Yarn and more yarn is involved. She knows me so well. I got more sock yarn from her and then I got enough yarn to make Branching Out. She sent me some pens and of course chocolate. Boy does she have my number, they are milk chocolate, peanut and caramel. The nice part of them is that they are Barton's. I love supporting them as they make good Kosher for Passover chocolate. She also sent met he cutest little bag for all my needles. It has a sheep on it. Who can get better then that. Thank you, Thank you and Thank you again.

Yea!!!

2007-11-18T19:48:00.000-08:00

Big news here in our family. My SIL got engaged on Friday night. We are so happy for her and can hardly wait for the wedding. He is a nice guy and treats her well.

I won!!!

2007-11-09T09:23:00.000-08:00

I am very excited. I won the flash your stash contest for SP11. My hubby thinks this is funny. As I already have a huge amount of yarn. So I got spinning fiber instead.

I am also working on setting up a Stitch and Pitch at the Lowell Spinners. If you have any interest please let me know.

Whee!!!

2007-11-01T21:10:00.000-07:00

Or should I say Wii.... You evil little toy. Ken decided that it would be a great idea to purchase guitar hero.. Ok... all I can say is that I stayed up well past midnight and well quite frankly I suck at this game. Now I remember why I hate piano, something about trying to get both hands to do something at the same thing. A quality that I apparently do not possess.. Well, at least I have a week before Glitter and her friend get back from Vegas. Somehow I came up with the bright idea of having them over to play. Now the get to see me make a fool of myself. Oh dear...

On to other news, darling little Max went to the Dr's to get his 6 months appointment. Turns out the reason he is not sleeping through the night is the fact that he has an earache. Because he is on medicine he now has an earache and the runs. Poor little guy, he is so happy through it all. What a sweet boy. Now on top of all of this Miss Robyn bonked her nose at gym and we have to take her to the Dr to make sure that she didn't break it. It isn't broke, but bruised. Thank goodness for small favors.

I am still working hard at my shawl and do not see it being finished anytime soon. I also own Laura one more afghan that I need to sew up for her. She was in charge of the Rebuilding Greensburg Block by Block project and had a bunch to finish. Hopefully I will get that done soon.

Maxwell....

2007-10-22T19:43:00.000-07:00

I forgot to share my milestone for Max with you all. Mister man can sit up on his own. He decided that on Oct 15th he would be sitting up man, just in time for his 6 month birthday.
Yea!!!! Max!!!

Getting the Monkey off my back.

2007-10-22T18:07:00.000-07:00

I have finally gotten the monkey off my back. Literally. I made a friend of mine Monkey socks from Knitty. I finished them the other week and finally got my act together and sent them. She told me she liked them and that they fit her perfectly. I didn't take a picture of them sorry so I will link to her website here.

On the other front's I am busy as always working on my knitting and will hopefully have something new to post soon.

Spoiled

2007-10-11T18:39:00.000-07:00

I just want to give public thank you's again to my secret pal. She is so amazing. This time in my package she sent some wonderful treats. I think my family is getting jealous of all my new toys. I got enough Debbie Bliss cotton yarn to make a new little tank for my daughter with a knitty pattern that she sent. She sent a cute little photo album which I assume for Max, some chocolate, hand lotion, Chai tea, knitting needles and a cute little notebook. I am completely overwhelmed by how wonderful my pal again. You deserve many thanks.

Heaven..

2007-10-07T19:01:00.000-07:00

I was in heaven yesterday. My darling hubby decide to give me a much needed break and sent me off to the LYS. I just got to sit and work on my shawl for two hours. What a treat. As much as i love my children I needed some quiet and he got it done for me. I also taught a fellow co-worker how to knit socks this week. I can't wait to pull her into the world of sock knitters...

Flash your stash..

2007-09-28T18:40:00.002-07:00

Ok.. So I lied.. I told my Secret Pal hostess that I was not going to show my stash. If I did I would have to admit that I have a problem and the whole thing would not be pretty. I know I have a yarn problem.. Ask any of my friends who have visited here. I have enough yarn to open a shop. So here is my sock yarn stash with a little of my new yarn Buckingham from Bristol thrown in for good measure. I am currently using the Buckingham to make myself a four cornered shawl. The rest is different types of sock yarn. I figured that from what I could in a few minutes will make me 16 pairs of socks. I will now leave the rest of my stash to your imagination. I can only say I love fiber.

More things from my pal...

2007-09-20T18:21:00.001-07:00

I am so spoiled by my pal I must smell rotten.... as in spoiled rotten..lol
I got another package in the mail yesterday. She sent me sock yarn. I love sock yarn. Here are the pictures. See the rule for me is that I can't use the stuff until I post it and I am dying to eat my chocolate.. It is sitting there calling me

To my daughter...

2007-09-18T06:35:00.000-07:00

This is a few days late, but here we go. You were born 5 years ago to help make what was a husband and wife a family. You bring us joy every day of our life and of course some tears. I enjoy hearing all the cute little saying you come up with and love your hugs and smiles. I love the fact that you call yourself mommy #2 to Max. I look forward to watching you grow and seeing you become a young women. Just remember we will always love you more then bunnies.

Secret Pal 11

2007-09-18T06:32:00.000-07:00

I must have the best secret pal ever. Boy does she ever know me. She sent me a beautiful neck warmer to keep me nice and toasty when I am outside with my students. A ball of yarn and pattern to make a pair of "Fetchings" to keep my hands warm. Some yummy chocolate for me, a lolly for the girl and Burt's Baby Bee's for the baby. She snuck some tea in, body gel, a tissue holder for my pocket, some pretty stitch marker and more. It was like Christmas. I will get a photo up shortly.

Yesterday..

2007-09-12T19:26:00.000-07:00

I just realize that I forgot to remember all of those lost on 9-11. To the friends and families of those affected I am truly sorry and you are in my thoughts. Being in Boston I meet people who had friends on the planes that crashed into the twin towers. The pain for them was awful. For them my heart goes out to them. Let me take this moment to remember those lost. I would also like to take this moment to thank the men and women out there on the front lines. You put yours lives in danger every day so that I and my children can be safe. For that I thank you.

Need a moment...

2007-09-11T09:52:00.000-07:00

Life has been busy to say the least. We went to Vermont for a wedding this weekend. It was outdoor and very beautiful. The bride Spunqui was her normal chipper self. It was outdoors and very hot.

On the way up I was able to almost complete the monkey socks. Yes, Val you heard me correctly. I just need to finish the toe on the first one. I decided they would be to big for my friend and needed to shorten them.

School starts...

2007-09-06T09:34:00.000-07:00

As many of you know I am a after school teacher. I have had four wonderful months off to be with my new son and five year old daughter. I have enjoyed my time at home and was not looking forward to heading back to work. I was wrong. It was wonderful to be back with my students and I didn't realize how much I had missed them. Robyn started school yesterday and is now in kindergarten.

I have been busy working a spinning a skien of yarn for my secret pal. I hope that she will like it. Off to the grindstone..

Busy... Busy..

2007-08-31T07:45:00.000-07:00

Sorry that I have neglected my blog readers lately. Life has been busy. We are getting ready to go back to school next week, which means back to work for me. I was in an afterschool program from 3 to 6 4 days a week. I love it and Robyn loves that fact that she gets to play with her friends. i am nervous because this mean s that Max goes to daycare, he is in the same building as me so that isn't too bad, but I will miss the little guy. Robyn can't wait to go back to play with her friends.
On the knitting front I have been busy finishing the pair of monkey socks and they should be going into the mail shortly. I am also working a scarf for a raffle basket for a friend who has a very sick puppy. He needs a shunt or else...

Bummer...

2007-08-25T20:54:00.000-07:00

I am so bummed. My darling hubby bought me a box of Godiva chocolate for no reason. He loves me so. I opened it to discover to my horror that they were all terribly deformed and rather awful to eat. They were completely dried in the middle and looked like they had shrunk. I do have to say that the wonderful people at Godiva made it all good. I called this evening (10:45pm Sat) to explain to them what had happen. I needed too, they were so bad that I needed to throw them out. What a sin. They are sending me a brand new box in the mail. I have gotten chocolate in the past from them through the mail and it is well pack. At least I am getting good chocolate out of this.

I have the best pal ever!!!

2007-08-25T07:49:00.000-07:00

I just have to say I have the best pal ever!!! She is awesome. The sock yarn that she picked out for me is perfect. I love the lotion, tea bag holder and the candy. Who can ever have enough stitch markers and needles. I can't wait to start my new pair of socks. She was even kind enough to send me a pattern so that I do not need to go searching for one. The "to do list" for my fridge is perfect for my busy life. I will post my picture of the package later on today. I also have to say that the little touch of wrapping my box and then stamping it is so cool. Thank you again my super secret pal..

Secret Pal Questioniare 2

2007-08-16T10:36:00.001-07:00

1.  What is the one knitting accessory you
could notlive without? My circular #2 Turbo's,
I love to knit socks.

2.  If you're heading on vacation, do you take
knitting with you?  If so, how much and what
type of project? Good question.  I always take
a pair of socks with me on vacation.  They are
easy to work on and carry. I also take a project
that has a deadline on it.  This time when I go
it will be a baby blanket that needs to be
finished.

3.  Where have you travelled to that you'd
consider your favorite spot? I just love to travel.
That said I have to say that I loved visiting Paris
and look forward to the day that I can go back.

4.  What is your favorite knitting book at the
moment? Do you own it?  I don't have a favorite
knitting book.  I use them for inspiration and
try to make my own patterns. That said I would
love a lace knitting book.  One that has all
types of lace patterns. There is one by interweave
knits but I can't think of the name off hand.

5.  Do you listen to podcasts?  Which is your
favorite(s)? No, because that would me that I
would have to own a I-pod which I do not.

Max!!

2007-08-16T09:56:00.000-07:00

Max is getting to be a big baby... He rolled over today. I am so excited. I can hardly believe it. He is not quite 4 months old yet. He seemed so proud of himself. The only sad part is that I missed the first time he rolled over. I put him down on his stomach, went to fold some laundry and when I turned back there he was laying on his back quite please with himself. He was kind enough to show me several times again before he tired of his new game. As I told a girlfriend of mine, he has motivation, he is trying to get away from Robyn...

2007-08-15T07:22:00.001-07:00

I got my secret pal yesterday and have already come up with ways to spoil her. This is going to be so much fun. Off to go buy more stuff to send.

Life gets busy...

2007-08-12T07:24:00.000-07:00

I haven't had time to post this week. I just haven't had time. But on the other hand nothing exciting has happen either. The biggest thing that I have started to do is use cloth diapers. I can't help but think about the environment and that I have to leave it to my babies. I am into day two of this and am liking it so far, not loving it. Max pees a lot and went went through a diaper yesterday. Because of this I am knitting diaper covers. They going to be bright colored and cuter then the ones he has now.

Secret Pal Questionaire...

2007-08-06T10:31:00.000-07:00

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I love all types of yarn. My favorite at the moment would be lace and sock yarn, but almost anything is fine with me. The only thing that I CAN NOT knit with is mohair. Mohair in my house makes me a very, very sad sneezy puppy.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
Nothing... they are all over the house. I really do need a way to organize them.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I started when I was 8 years old and I am now 33. I teach knitting to other people and have tried all types of knitting. I am always up for a new project.

5. What's your favorite scent? Lilac

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? mmmmm.... candy....

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin? I love to spin and have two wheels.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand? I love most colors just not murky dark browns, greens and yellows

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? I have a dog, hubby and two children.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? Yes, I am an after school teacher and we are outside quite a bit.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? Socks...Lace and more socks.

13. What are you knitting right now? Socks, a shawl and more socks..

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Just not food...allergies....

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? Turbo addis..

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? Both

17. How old is your oldest UFO? 10 years old

18. What is your favorite holiday? Not sure..

19. Is there anything that you collect? Yarn...

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? Not really..

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? Not right now..

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? Yes.. size 7 foot..

23. When is your birthday? May 9, 1974..

It got smaller yet again!!

2007-08-04T09:53:00.000-07:00

I swear that I am being yelled at from the heavens. I was talking to a friend of mine about part three of the mother of twins being connected to me. her neighbor happened to be over hanging out with us. What is her name she asks? I am in twin's club. Oh no... I thought... here it comes she is going to know her also. Sure enough this women also knows that mother of the twins and says she is an absolute sweetheart. I ask the neighbor to please tell her that I said hi and that I am stating to thing that G-d is trying to give me a message that we need to be friends. Let see how it goes...

A Bird in the house...

2007-08-04T09:40:00.000-07:00

My darling little girl came wandering into the bedroom the other morning very calmly announcing that there is a bird in her playroom. Ken's and my first thought was oh no... the wasps have gotten into the house. We told her that it is the bees.. She wandered out of our room and came back announcing that it is a grey bird. At this point I am annoyed, "Robyn there is no bird in the house!" I telll her. At this point she says "I know what a bird is and it is a grey bird!!!" So Ken gets up and goes to the playroom and comes back telling me "You have to see this and can you get it out of the house?" So off I go to get the bird out of the house. I chased it downstairs out of the front door it flew. What a great way to start out the day.

Red Sox's Nation...

2007-08-01T10:38:00.000-07:00

My daughter got her first taste of the Red Sox's last night. We went to a company party and have front row seats at the Red Sox's bullpen. Robyn stood watching them warm up through out the game. Waving and saying HI to all the men in her Red Sox's cheerleader uniform. She manage to get most of them to wave back to her. As one of the men there with us said. At least they wave to her, they won't give anyone else the time of day. She had fun but it was a long night.

I am done...

2007-07-29T21:07:00.000-07:00

I know that I have spoken a lot about this project for the past few posts. I am happy to announce that I am finally done with the knitting and have sewn up the final part of the project. It is funny why something calls to your soul. I grew up in Wheaton, Ill. Even though I have finally admitted that I am a New Englander ( took me 20 years of living in MA to admit this to myself), there will always be part of me that will be your typical Midwestern girl. I grew up in the summers waiting for that darn tornado alarm to go off in town. When you heard it, it was time to head off to the basement for the night. I often had night terrors dreaming that I would not be able to get downstairs in time and be caught in a storm. Quite the scary thought as a young child. I have never gotten over it and the thought of a tornado still scares the daylights out of me. Something about the Rebuilding Greensburg Block by Block spoke to my soul and I had to be part of it. I am so happy that Laura was able to set this up and I am honored to be part of this. Here are the photo's of my blanket. I am hoping that as a small child sleeps under it that they realize that someone out there is thinking of them and has them in their thoughts and prayers.

Thank heaven for small favors....

2007-07-28T21:51:00.000-07:00

A glass of wine and my sewing needle has finally almost gotten me to the end of my afghan project. I have seven squares left to sew on and it is in the mail off to a family who has lost more then I can ever imagine. I am also happy to say that I have three pairs of hand knit socks and two scarves for the package. I love doing charity knitting and am looking for a new project. Please let me know if you have any ideas.

The afghan that never ends...

2007-07-25T08:01:00.000-07:00

Sometime you think that you have come to the end of a project to realize that your were completely wrong. I counted several times to see how many more squares I need for the afghan. Ok I need 11 more. Some how my brain thought I have 8 made so I only need 3 more to finish. Yea!!!! I knitted my 3 squares went to put it together only to realize that I need to make 8 more squares. It will not be finished in time and is going to have to leave hear unfinished. That said I feel as though I have been able to with this project quite a bit and am happy with my results. I will show you guys how it looks when I take a photo.

The world gets smaller....

2007-07-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

Just when you think that you manage to get away from the past, it shows up yet again. I called the Le Leche League yesterday to get some advice about what do with Max and my pending jury duty. I am a nursing mother and he is still so young I wasn't sure what to do with him. The advice was leave him at home. Then the leader invited me to attend a meeting. I asked her when the meeting was and then the lightbulb went off in my head. Your last meeting was Thursday... Hum the mother of the child that Robyn bit was at a Le Leche League meeting that night and didn't attend the concert we saw. I asked the leader if she knew if her group had a mother of twin 4 year old boys. Oh you do? Oh she is your co-leader? Hummm... Apparently I am meant to become friends with this women.

Robyn is too analytical sometimes..

2007-07-18T09:47:00.000-07:00

My darling little Robyn is just too analytical sometimes. We have been working on her behavior as of late. She is a sweet little girl, but just doesn't use her listening skills as well as she should. She will do sometime naughty and will be asked by different adults why are you so bad? Ken and I always try to point out to her that she isn't bad but that her behavior is bad. Well, apparently we are telling her that enough. Last night at dinner she could have behaved better. When we asked her on the way home why was she behaving badly she retorted " I guess when G-d created me he made me bad." It broke my heart, I had to tell her that G-d doesn't make bad people. That she is good but makes poor choices.

If you interact with my child and she misbehaves please tell her that her behavior is bad not that she is bad. I need a kid with a good self-image.

Nice weekend...

2007-07-16T08:45:00.000-07:00

We had a very nice but long weekend. We were off to see Ken's parents in CT. they live in NY and his sister lives in CT so she is the perfect meeting place. On the way up we stopped by to see good friends of ours in Sturbridge, MA. Their neighbors had a super water slide out for a birthday party. They were nice enough to notice that Robyn was outside playing by herself and invited her to join in on the fun. Having no bathing suit, she went in her dress. She climb up about 6 times when on the last trip up she fell off the top of the slide. This was easy a 10ft drop. My friend was watching her was I went off to turn off the water and all I heard was a blood curdling scream. Luckily she landed on the padding below and was fine. Scared the crap out of me. My spunky little girl after calming down decided that she wanted to climb and go down again.

We had a nice time visiting with the in-laws. This visit was important to all as MILis starting radiation today to hopefully win her battle with breast cancer round 2. She was in the clear for two years but it has come back. We are praying that she wins this round also. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

It's a small world....

2007-07-12T18:41:00.000-07:00

Did your mother ever tell you "You should always be on your best behavior, because you never know who knows who." Yet again that saying came back to haunt me. Last week Robyn had a run in at the playground. Now I am not sure who started it but I do know who ended it. Robyn bit the boy on the back. The mother came up to me quite calmly and explained to me that my daughter bit her son. I was horrified to say the least, my daughter has never bitten another child. I told the mother I was extremely sorry and Robyn was sent to sit with me at the table. When asked what happened she told me "He made me so mad I lost all my power." I am guessing she was so mad that she couldn't stop herself. She knew she was wrong and said she won't do it again.

Fast forward one week. My friend Glitter invited me to go a Velvet Elvis concert tonight. We were sitting with friends of the band, when these two twin boys came and sat with their father. Best friends of the people we were sitting with. I told Glitter I swear that is the little boy that Robyn bit. What are the chance's? I wasn't sure because mom wasn't there. So I asked Glitter's friend if she knew one of the boys was bit at the playground. She didn't so she asked the dad. Sure enough that is the boy that Robyn bit. Small world. They played very nicely today and all seemed well. But go figure.

While at the concert the sprinklers went off spraying everyone. My daughter being the spirited one decided that she would run around in the water and had a grand old time. I was the only parent who let their child do that. My thinking, she is having fun, she isn't hurting anyone and she will pass out when we get home. Needless to say she was dripping wet. I am guess if this would have been Woodstock she would have been the one to start the mud pits.

Busy as always..

2007-07-11T07:12:00.000-07:00

Life just doesn't ever seemed to slow down for me. Yesterday was suppose to be a nice and quiet day for me and the kids. We were just goingto run out to the local craft store for some activities for Robyn. We had fun choosing rainy day or it is just to darn hot to go outside activities to do. We get home and the phone rings. My parents want to go out to dinner. More stuff to do, but I do love eating with them. We go play with the neighbors when Robyn has a massive melt down. Off to home again for a nap. The problem it is 5:30 we have to be at dinner for 6:30. She will never make it through dinner without a nap. She passes out hard, Max passes out hard and they are not up yet at 6:20pm. So my darling husband sent me to dinner by myself. It was so nice to have dinner with just me, my brother and my parents. I haven't done that since the kids were born.

Today we are off to pick tart red cherries, they are as good as the ones i grew up eating in MI. Yummy. Laura, if you are reading this I will think of you when eating them.

Nothing much going on here..

2007-07-10T08:17:00.000-07:00

Well... That is a lie actually. I got a nice surprise yesterday. An old friend of mine (best friend from college) who I have not been on great talking terms as of late, called me to have a play date with her children. It was out of the blue and completely unexpected. About a year ago she said some rather hurtful things to me and I completely called off the friendship. It was one of the hardest things I ever did, but I needed the space and needed to heal from the hurtful things that were said. I know now that she didn't mean what she said and that it came out wrong. That said we have always been very close, but rather tough on each other, more like sisters. We had a nice time and made a play date for the kids again next week. I am trying not to set myself up for being hurt again, but it is nice to have her back in my life.

On the knitting front I am still working my Greensburg project and have started to make a Lizards Ridge baby blanket. I am using one type of yarn and knitting it all in one piece. If you want to know how I adapted the pattern please let me know.

I do ahve to share a cute Robyn story. A few weeks ago when we were at my parent's house Robyn decided that she would go to their neighbor's house to play with the 9 year old daughter. The big issue was that she did not bother to tell anyone. We figured that is where she went so my dad went off to retrieve her. When he got there Poppy asked "Robyn why didn't you tell us?" She took her toy phone out of her pocket, flipped it open and stated "Poppy, you know this isne't a real cell phone. If I had a real one I would have called you." Talk about a firecracker.

Up all night!!!

2007-07-07T10:01:00.000-07:00

I was up most of the night last night. Not because of the children, but because of some stupid My Little Pony toy. It somehow started playing music last night. I will never get it out of my mind again. On top of that other baby toys also went off. As far as I can figure, the heat made them wonky or we have magical attic creatures living up there.

On the knitting front I am bust working on the squares for the afghan and have decided to sew it up together before sending it off.

Off to pass out...

More about me..

2007-07-06T07:18:00.000-07:00

Since this is Spinning Jenny's World this blog is going to be mostly about my knitting and if I ever find time again with my spinning. With two children who knows when I will spin again. As much as I love it, I just don't have time.

The great news on the spinning front is my aunt was up visiting my dad, we were talking about my knitting and I mentioned that I spin, she told me that she had an antique spinning wheel in her basement and she is going to give it to me. I am so excited, it is in working condition. So I am going to be the proud owner of a new to me spinning wheel.

On the knitting front I have been knitting for a awesome project called "Rebuilding Greensburg, Block by Block" . It is a really great project and I am enjoying working on it and at this point I have over 20 squares made. I am hoping to have 56 done before Aug 1st, which is the drop dead date for sending the squares.

I am also working on a pair of sock called monkey for a fellow blogger, who convinced me last night to start blogging. They are made in a beautiful yarn by Lorna's Lace and I love it.

On the home front my little darling decided that she would help out her mother yesterday and remove the baby from the baby swing. I also most died, thank goodness Robyn didn't drop Max and got him safely to the couch. She was so proud of herself and rescuing the baby brother, that I had a hard time bawling her out, so we nicely explained that no matter how much he is crying you are not allowed to move him.

My first post...

2007-07-05T20:39:00.000-07:00

It was suggested to me that I should start a blog. So here it goes. I am a 33 year old mother of two children and have been married to my wonderful husband for just over 7 years. This blog will be here for me to tell you stories about my life and more importantly to share one of my greatest loves knitting. Of course I love my children more, but all of us need an outlet. I hope to see all of you here visiting and I promise I will do my best to keep up this blog.