EXACTLY what I needed!

We have to drive to Yakima after school tonight to go to a funeral tomorrow. (We have to drive over Snoqualmie Pass and it doesn't look like it's going to be an easy drive.) I have SO much to do! It started snowing last night and although I knew I was being greedy (February is almost over after all), I was really hoping that school would be 2 hours late this morning... Well, we weren't, I was ready, Stella's bottle is here on the counter ready for me to go get her up and...

WE'RE TWO HOURS LATE!!!!!! We're one of only 2 schools in the entire county and I've been dancing and cheering I'm so thrilled. I just got an extra 2 hours to pack, turn Stella's car seat around, and get the house ready for Jim's niece to come and stay with the furry kids.

I actually have a couple of things to show you but I'll have to wait until this weekend or Monday. Yep Girlfriend, it's a good day!

What I had wanted to tell you

My last post was supposed to be about how much my girl is growing. She says, "na, na, na" (no, no, no) while running around the house, puts her doll to bed, and LOVES to be outside. She even has "movie star" sunglasses (which I never dreamt she'd leave on when her Grandma brought them), trouser jeans, and a little twill peacoat. So stinking cute it's ridiculous!

As for our little sickie... We went to the vet yesterday and although it was not pretty I think it's doing the trick and we're on our way to recovery. We've made it 24 hours without any accidents. She's humiliated she has to wear the cone and keeps running into things. Now that I know she's going to be ok I can't help from laughing at her!

Stella is spending the day with her Nona so Jim and I could tear the house apart and have the carpets cleaned. It's not pleasant when you start moving things that don't get moved often... I think that we should be required to do this once a year just to get a good cleaning it. I've also had a little time to make these:

I love these coffee cozies! I started with Erin's tutorial but I've been tweaking it. Maybe Starbuck's cups are larger than hers (or maybe she doesn't feel the need to get the 20 ouncer!) My first was a little short so I've been messing around with it. You can also see my last loaf of bread from the batch I mixed a week and a half ago. The taste changes as it ages - I think I liked the first the best. It's hard to turn down warm, fresh, homemade bread though! Finally, I changed Stella's green Christmas hat to a St. Patrick's Day hat by changing the ribbon. She's wearing it out today though so no pictures. I did find time while we were waiting for the carpet guys to finish up to use some of the ribbon for a clip though. I LOVE these! I just wish she'd leave them in her hair a little better.

Hope your weekend is a little more restful than mine!

One of "those" days

I've had a little list of things/stories I was going to tell and pictures to post but I just don't have it in me today.

Warning: pet bowels discussed ahead!

My little old lady (she's nine). Had a case of the runs Wednesday night. I had to get up 3 times to let her out. I left for work yesterday and my husband (who is the much harder dog "parent") was going to make her stay outside all day. It was pretty mild out so I knew she'd be ok, but still, she's not an outdoor dog so I was feeling bad for her. Well, at the last minute he had a change of heart (which he often does with them.) He called on his way home and told me he'd left her in. He said, "I hope you get home before me in case she went in the house." I figured he makes things out to be a bigger deal than they are, I'm sure she's fine now. We got home at the same time and while I was getting Stella out of the car he went inside and then immediately came back out. I was AWFUL!!! I can't even begin to tell you how bad it really was. I spent most of the night cleaning up and then gave her a bath. He wanted to leave her outside last night but it was going to freeze and I wasn't comfortable with it so we put her in the downstairs bathroom, laundry room. He came in this morning while I was in the shower and I was crossing my fingers that she was doing better... nope. The bathroom and laundry room were AWFUL!!! She is hurting so much (I'll edit out some of the details here). So, I had to stay home today. We're going to the vet at 10:45 (I hope we get there without any disasters) and tomorrow we're having our carpets cleaned.

I'm scared! I've known a lot of people who've lost pets to things that started out similarly to this. She's nine which is getting older, but not THAT old. She was my first "baby". Poor Murphy is upset too. He doesn't even want to be inside without her. Cross your fingers for us and if you're into praying for pets we could use all of the prayers/positive thoughts we can get right now. I'll leave you with a picture of my first "kids". They fight for the spot at our feet when we sit at the counter on the computer. Our little sickie is on the left, her brother (literally) on the right.

What a difference a year makes

I can't believe one year ago we had a little bitty miracle girl who fit into the onesie that we purchased 4 years previously when we first decided to try to get pregnant! It really reminded me of all we'd gone through to have her in our lives. Today I look at her and I can't believe how fast it's all going. I just want to slow it down and savor each precious moment with her. I think this is when many people start thinking about another baby... If it's in the cards for us I'd be overyjoyed. If not, how can I not be completely content with this little being in my life?
















In other news, I tried my first loaf of bread from my new book and though a little on the small side and a little goofy looking it was DELICIOUS!!! I couldn't wait to get good pictures so I'll try to get some of the next loaf. If you haven't tried it yet and you're a bread fiend like Stella and I, you need to get the book... go - now!

Salina is coming along, I've split for the arm shaping so it's starting to feel a little more like a sweater. I'm loving the yarn so I really hope the finished sweater fits well. And, just to show that I do finish something once and a while here's one of my sneaky hats. I made Stella 3 Christmas hats. One was a candy cane hat that Jim designed, one was plain green, and the third plain red. The red and green hats had yarn over "holes" just above the ribbing to thread holiday ribbon through. The sneaky part? What two holidays come after Christmas? Valentine's Day and St. Patricks Day which also just happen to be red and green. Change out the ribbon and we've had hats to get us from Thanksgiving through mid-March. I tried to get a picture for you but this was the best I could do. Happy Valentine's Day!

This is one battle I won't lose

You know the saying "pick your battles"? There are some you just can't...WON'T lose. Maybe it's with your kids (often mine are with my students) The battle I'm currently in is with yarn and a crochet hook. For some reason I'm determined to crochet this adorable hat for Stella. Of course, I could just BUY a crocheted hat for her. It's not as if I can't find any I like. In fact, I've found a ton that would be adorable on her. At first it's the thought, "I could make that for a lot less than $30." It's no longer about the money. Now it's about my pride. Tens of thousands of people crochet every day, I WILL figure this out! After all, I taught myself to knit... I'm not having issues with the actual stitches, it's the counting them I can't seem to get the hang of. If there are 7 on a round and you're supposed to increase in each stitch so that you have 14 on the next round I always lose track of where I start/end. I've tried marking them and it's just not working. It WILL though - eventually.

I'm still working on Salina (which isn't helping my crochet cause any.) I'm knitting it in the round, adding a couple of inches to the body (the pattern only calls for a 14" body!). I'm almost ready to split for the arms.

The other night I was trying to make dinner and Stella was in the kitchen with me doing this:

At first I had no idea what she was doing. She just kept putting her head down on the floor with her butt up in the air. Then Jim said, "I bet she's copying Jessica tumbling." The daughters of the amazing woman who watches Stella during the day are in gymnastics. They are always tumbling, doing handstands, etc. She was at home trying to copy the big girls! I somehow manage to fall more in love with this beautiful girl every day!