It's starting to smell like Thanksgiving!

Today I am roasting the vegetables to begin making the stock for the turkey brine. Wonderful smells are filling the home and I cannot wait for Thursday. Hopefully I will not be too exhausted to enjoy the food and company.

Does anyone have Thanksgiving traditions? My husband's family always just ate and ate and they were all skinny as a rail. Growing up I remember helping my mom the night before Thanksgiving. It was always the children's job to tear up the bread for the stuffing. Thinking back it seems like we tore up a hundred loaves, but it was probably only two. On Thanksgiving Day we would rehearse our version of "The First Thanksgiving" while the turkey roasted away. I'm sure my parents have some highly embarrassing footage of us sailing to the new world on my sister, the Mayflower. I remember one year after my older sisters had all gone to college, my brother and I were the only ones who still wanted to carry this tradition on so we used our Cabbage Patch dolls. I know there is no way I could convince my hubby's family to do the play, but maybe if we could just go for a walk and enjoy the crisp autumn air before coming home to warm apple and pumpkin pies... That would be just about perfect to me.

Frighteningly Possible...

'What will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

I was reading my sister's blog ofcourse and thought, hey hers was hilarious, let's give it a try! I wasn't sure what to expect, but this could end up being very true! I love art and will really enjoy frequenting museums more like in those long forgotten days before I had small children. And I really love baked goods of every variety, yes even the small easy bake oven creations. Dare I admit it was my favorite toy growing up? If you could see my hips you'd know it's true.

I did go running for the second time this week tonight. I went for 35 min tonight and definitely felt it much much more. It is sooooo much colder here too. What am I thinking starting this program in WINTER???????? I just figure if I don't do it now while I am somewhat motivated and have a sister-in-law who calls to check my progress, I will just never start. The thought of eating all those pies this coming Thursday is fairly good motivation too. Oh how I love the holidays! Especially feasting holidays!! I am going to try to eat smaller portions of everything, but I totally plan on eating EVERYTHING.

What is your holiday menu?
We will be brining our turkey this year. We did this about 5 years ago and really loved it, but then we tried the Jennifer Garner-Martha turkey and really loved how little prep work was involved and the delicious gravy. Buying a bottle of wine in Utah is trickier than you might think though, and we decided going to the local liquor store just wasn't the best of examples for our girls. So Good Eats Roast Turkey it is! It really is so succulent and flavorful, I cannot wait!! We will also have family favorites like sausage apple craisin stuffing, monkey bread (it isn't sweet), a fab lemon pie, sweet potato soufle ( my fave!!), mashed tatoes, gravy, pretzel strawberry salad, and a pumpkin custard pie. I'm sure there will be a few more pies involved, we love our pie! And I've heard we are having some salad you can get at Nordstrom's with a cranberry walnut vineagrette.

Wish me luck!

In order to be a more "Fitter Knitter" I have decided to really get serious about this whole exercise thing. I'm not ready to give up my Twix, but I will try to move a little more. So I found "The Couch-to-5K Running Plan." Supposedly in 2 months I will be able to run 3 miles. My sister in law assures me it will work and in three months time I will be running for 2 hours every day like she is and the pounds will melt off and I will fit in a size 25" jean too. I don't really know if I want to run for 2 hours ever, but who wouldn't want a 25" waist??? I ran for the first time last night. I have no idea how far I went, but I did run for 40 minutes. Now the real trick is, doing it again...

I made a hat!!!

My Knitpicks order arrived on the 9th. I was so excited to knit that I canceled playing Bunco that night- don't tell anyone else in my group! The yarn was all very yummy, but much brighter than I was expecting. I was most concerned about the Memories yarn, but it is the yarn I like best now. I absolutely LOVE the options needles, with a little help from big sis I conquered my fear of using 2 circulars. Once I actually tried, I realized it really wasn't all that complicated. Maybe it's just that I have a great teacher... ;) I was too scared to use my "good" yarn on my first attempt, so I used some yarn I had bought for a crochet project I will never complete. It is the Chestnut Heather colorway that looks absolutely horrid on my monitor, but is quite nice in person. I also decided to make the hat for me and since I have one of those large Irish heads and I was doing a long tail cast on and wanted to use up all the tail, I cast on 122 sts. The ribbing is a little big even for me, but oh well! The cabling all went great and then I was wondering when to decrease... hmmmm..... what exactly is the "crown" of my head.....who should I call??... big sis ofcourse and like always she had the answer. She found a help for me in "Knitting Rules" that says the measurement from the palm to the longest finger is how high a hat needs to be. This trick worked great for my noggin, but my hubby has bigger hands than I do and he tried on my hat last night and had to roll it up a good three inches. Maybe that's just for women?? Or large-Irish-head-people??? Dunno. Back to the knitting though, the decreasing went great and poof like magic I had a hat!! I look like a complete moron wearing it, but hubby seemed to enjoy wearing it around and today I tried it on baby and she loves taking it on and off on and off. I think she looks adorable in it, what do you think?

Practice complete, can I do a hat now?

I finished my "Braided Hat Practice Dishcloth" this afternoon and thought I'd hurry and blog while I had a chance. This was my first time doing cables and I really enjoyed them! I used size 6 metal knitting needles and the u-shaped cable needle which was a little tricky for me to work with, but I didn't mind it. I ordered a flying something one from knitpicks though, big sis says I'll like it much better! I used 100% cotton yarn in denim by Bernat that you can find at Wal-mart. Did I mention I'm cheap? ;) I have discovered that I despise knitting with Acrylic yarn now, so I had to try some knitpicks yarn. I ordered Swish Superwash in Capri, Totem in turquoise, and Memories in Yukon to attempt my first pair of socks. Little projects are best for me with a wild 2-yr-old hell bent on destruction. I am dying for my order to arrive, but I'm told it will take at least a week. I also thought I'd include the pattern I used for this dishcloth:

Braided Hat Practice Dishcloth
Cast on 66 sts (or 88 if you knit tight) Work a band in 2 by 2 rib knit for 1."
Row 1: *p1, k9, p1, repeat from * to end.
Row 2: *k1, p9, k1, repeat from * to end.
Row 3: *p1, place next 3 sts on cable needle and hold in front of work, k3, pick up cable k3, k3, p1, repeat from * to end.
Row 4: same as row 2
Row 5: same as Row 1
Row 6: same as Row 2
Row 7: *p1, k3, place next 3 sts on cable needle and pull to back, k3, k3 from cable, p1, repeat from * to end.
Row 8: same as Row 2
Repeat rows 1-8 to desired length and end with rib knit for 1."

Adapted by miss88keys originally a hat pattern by anise.

Punkins!

The theme of Sydni's whole day can be summed up in that one little word, "punkins." I wish I knew how to include sound, because if you could hear her say it, she would melt your heart. Not that I've been able to capture her saying it. Kids never speak when you want them too, well mine don't.
She started out her 2nd birthday by going shopping with Grandma and Grandpa. I was entirely shocked because she wanted nothing to do with them the previous night and all that morning. Once the word "bye bye" was mentioned though, she was more than happy to let Grandma hold her and take her out to the car. She loves being outside or anywhere new. While they were out shopping, I was madly baking and preparing her birthday cake. It took me about 5 hours to complete, including chill times and bake times, but I think the end result was worth it.
Once they were back and the cake was complete we all went to the Pumpkin Patch. She loved it, she was surrounded by punkins to throw. She didn't like any of the Halloween decor, but Julia and her older cousins loved it. I don't have very many pictures of the trip. Since my parents were with us, I rely on them to take all the photos. Wonder if I will EVER get them... Seeing as I still haven't received her photos from her 1st birthday, it doesn't look good. At least I know there are photos though and I can at some point get them from my father.
After the patch we had dinner and came home for cake and ice cream and presents. We made the mistake of giving her what ended up being her favorite present first and it was difficult to get her to open anything else. Oh well! As long as she's happy!! She received a ride along car from Daddy, a Backyardigans pirate ship from Mommy, a Pooh Bear Water Baby from Julia, a baketball hoop from Grandma and Grandpa Inglet, and a Magna Doodle from Grandma and Grandpa Ivey.

So here is "the cake." I made it by baking two bundt cakes and frosting them and then covering the whole thing in fondant. Then I cut out the leaves and rolled the vines and the stem out of fondant. For the eys and mouth I rolled yellow sugar into the fondant and painted it with yellow food coloring to give it a more shiny effect.

Here's one last photo of me trying to get Sydni interested in blowing out her birthday candles. She usually loves to blow out any candle I try to light, but wouldn't you know I ended up blowing them out! Maybe next year?? We had a great time. I really cannot believe my baby is 2!

Back from the dead...
So much has happend since July, that I will just skip ahead to October and pretend I never stopped blogging.

I have finally managed to take photos of my new finished knitting projects. I finally caught the bug and bought a little kit to teach myself how to knit. That was utterly useless other than a more economic way to get the "basics." By far, knittinghelp, and my dear sister taught me how to knit. So for my first project I decided to make a scarf for my toddler out of some junky yarn I had left over from some crochet projects.
It turned out great, but she will have nothing to do with it. I snapped this photo seconds after putting it on her and you can clearly see she is ripping it off her neck. Oh well, lesson learned. Don't bother knitting anything for my little one! I had originally planned to make scarves to practice my stiches and do some red ones for the Red Scarf Project, but I am waaaaaaaaaaay too slow for scarves to be very much fun. It took an eternity for me to finish and I never wanted to do sockinette stitch ever again!

So I decided to try dishcloths. I'd already purchased some cotton yarn a while ago to crochet some but just never got around to it. Actually for the life of me I cannot figure out how to do a long double crochet like the one in the pattern, so it just never happened. If any of you know PLEASE post how!!! Obviously I wasn't a very good hooker... I was able to complete the Feather and Fan Dishcloth with no trouble at all and the Tulip and Garter Dishcloth was a breeze too. I was so relieved! Best part of all, it was almost instant gratification. I had two completed projects in half the time it took me to do a scarf. Hooray! I wanted to move on to hats, because I figure they too will give me that instant gratification that I need, but big sis says I'm just not ready so for the hat I want to do. So I will settle for this one instead. Good thing I have her to guide me so I don't get in over my head, right?

So there you have it kids. If you are lucky, some day soon I'll post pictures of Sydni's second birthday. I made a pretty cute cake for her as well. It's so cute in fact I haven't had the heart to cut into the front of it. More on that later though...

What the devil???

I just had to include this picture of Sydni in the tub. She absolutely LOVES blowing bubbles, so naturally I thought she would enjoy bath bubbles. Luckily I found some before I purchased more "baby approved cost a million dollar" bubble bath at the store.

Banded shut

Have I mentioned before that I am reliving my teenage years? Complete with braces, Accutaine, and hormones from hell induced by the pill? If not, there you go. I really must say that I am soooo grateful my own teenage years were blemish-free with just the normal amount of hormones. All very bearable. I would rather go through this now with a husband who loves me no matter how crazy I get or how horrible my skin and body look. He has the thickest pair of "husband-goggles" in the world!

I had my appointment with the orthodontist today and to my horror, my mouth is now rubber-banded shut! Well not entirely, but I can hardly open my mouth. I have a photo and will try to include it, but we all know how I hate posting photos. My mouth actually looks much worse in real life. The upside to being banded shut is maybe just maybe this will effectively curb my non-stop snacking during the day. I also discovered that my teeth hurt so bad now that I can't really chew anything either. So goodbye salads, hello vegetable soup or milkshake depending on how depressed I am that I can't eat!!

Bits of wisdom... maybe...
So I was searching in blogland and came across this quote that I really love.

"Be patient toward all that is unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves" and eventually you find yourself "living into the answers." --Rilke with addition from unremembered blogger.
How to "love the questions" is something I that will take me a lifetime (or more) to discover. I think I have been able to come to peace with all those questions, but I definitely do not love them. I often dream of having a crystal ball to just tell me all the answers. It seems like things would be so much easier that way, but I guess not. I just have to believe that God knows the path my life should take and that all those bumps along the road really will teach me something important for a later time. That's the way it's always worked anyway, some bumps hurt more than others though.

The absolute best...

I have just discovered the most wonderful masacara that I had to blog about it! It is Loreal's Voluminous Mascara. I realize it's a drugstore brand, but it works like a dream! I feel like I have fake eyelashes on with only one coat!! Love it love it love it!!!!

My wobbly bits...

My wobbly bits got to go on display in front of a good deal of the community today. I put my girls in swimming lessons hoping to motivate myself to get in shape before the "Mom and Tot" class began. I've done a fair job. My wobbly bits are a bit less wobbly I must admit and my arms are really starting to tone up. If only the same could be said of my behind... in time right??

The girls had a blast and did not want to leave the pool. Julia started working on the back crawl today and Sydni and I worked on jumping in the pool to Mommy and playing a "Wheels on the Bus" game. Her favorite was jumping in the pool. Since tomorrow is the 4th so we'll have to wait for the 5th to display my bits again. I'm getting on the glider right now!!! Did I mention I can't stop eating the birthday cake?? Heaven help me!!!

The bit about pictures

I have decided after attempting to get pictures where I want them in this !@#@$%#$^% program that I will RARELY post a picture here ever again. I am sorry dear reader, you will have to go to Snapfish to view any photos again. I can see why you would like to get your own program to create your own page. Oh the frustrations!!!!!!

Party Piece

I am happy to report that the "Unbirthday Party" was a smashing success! And even happier to report that the "leaning tower of cake" did not topple over before I was able to serve it. Phew!! Everything went extremely well, not bad considering I'm working off four hours of sleep. My nieces, Lindsey and Ally, ages 15 and 14 respectively were here helping me and I truely could not have done it without them.


We set up the house and backyard to look like scenes from "Alice in Wonderland." Inside the kiddies entered the house and went downstairs through the rabbit hole which was a curtain rod draped with a blanket and some greenery. The girls loved going up and down the stairs.



From the rabbit hole, they could follow the paths into "Tulgey Wood" aka the family room or to "The Mad Hatters" aka the backyard.








We started out by playing The Candy Bar Game in Tulgey Wood. The game was a bit too hard for these 7 & 8-yr-olds to play properly, but they had a blast and loved it anyway. BTW miss88keys, you really do need 2 dice to up the odds. Unfortunately I could not find another anywhere in the house!!
The girls then all went outside to play Hot "Wonderland" Potato (we used a water balloon), "Clean Cup Move Down" (our wonderland version of musical chairs played in
the pool) and Water Balloon Toss- which I ended up playing with one of the girls since there were 7 girls that showed up. It was nice to get a little wet though it got soooo hot!! Then the girls played in the pool while I got lunch ready. We had sandwiches cut in the shape of flowers and stars, potato chips, carrots, watermelon, and "tea" (Crystal Lite Raspberry Lemonade). The girls picnicked under the shade of our tree.












After lunch the girls came back to "Tulgey Wood" for Julia to open her presents. She got some really great presents from her friends but I'm too tired to figure out what they all are right now!! My bro-in-law and sis-in-law came by and I had him bring Julia's present downstairs for me. We got her a brand new bike and she was thrilled!!

We also did cake and ice cream inside because I was too terrified to take the cake anywhere. We ended up waiting for my Mother-In-Law to come over because my camera DIED and I couldn't get a picture of the cake. Once she showed up we sang "Happy Unbirthday" and blew out candles and hacked that cake to pieces. The kids thought the cake was fake and were thrilled about the blue icing. They all wanted different parts of the cake so I ended up using every tier which really surprised me. It really was so much fun, but I am glad it's over. Now I am entirely physically and mentally exhuasted but too hopped up on caffiene to sleep... it was either drink the Diet Coke or fall asleep making lunch.