Treasures!

A few weekends ago we went out garage saleing and I get an unnatural pleasure from finding little treasures - especially when they're inexpensive. What treasures did I find?

First, a hardbound copy of The Joy of Cooking for $1. I was so happy for this and even though Morgan had to point out, "You already have a million cookbooks" I had to state the obvious and tell him, "Now I'll have 1,000,001 cookbooks." Actually, the cookbook count will decrease with this purchase because I previously had The Joy of Cooking given to me by my father in a paperback version. Nice of him, but a little unsatisfying because the print was so small and they had to break it up into two volumes for it to be a little paperback book. Anyway, we're very happy with this find. :)

Secondly, I found a whole box of vintage sewing patterns and knitting books for $3. And by vintage I mean 1957 was the year this lady had gone pattern shopping. In all reality these patterns are worth $5 - $20 if I sold them individually on e-bay (which I have no intention of doing) because they are cute, in great condition and uncut. The real kicker is that they're almost all my size. This really is a shocker because if you think about it most women 50 years ago were tiny compared to today's woman. About half of the patterns were for men's ware and I just have no intention of sewing (or knitting for that matter) anything for Morgan. He's glad I have hobbies but he really doesn't want any of my wares. Oh well. Now I have all these lovely patterns but there never seems to be enough time in a day to do all the fun little projects I want. Oh well, I think the park is calling Emma and me so off we go!

The Bad and The Ugly

So you've seen the good. Now comes the rest.

First, The Bad. This necklace is not bad, I actually really love it and Emma is fascinated by it. I'm the one who was bad because this beauty was made by my brother and gifted to me when I graduated. I've never worn it before because it had a clear square pendant that just never sat well with me. Firstly, the pendant was drilled incorrectly so there was this ugly misdrilled and then re-drilled channel running down the middle of the square crystal bead. Secondly, the clear bead was too light to be the focus of the necklace. About two weeks ago I just got a wild hair and changed out the pendant to what you see in the picture. I've since worn it at least three days. That says volumes since it previously sat in my jewelry box for years...literally. I think this necklace may actually have super powers. Worn with a plain jersey knit dress it makes the whole get-up go from blah to wow. :) I even tried the thing where you take it off and then put it back on and the difference was night and day. I think this alone may justify the blasphemy of messing with the crafting of someone else.

And now we come to The Ugly. This dress is a casualty in so many ways. I decided to be a bit wild with the fabric and I like it up close but from a reasonable distance it looks like...pea soup. Yuck. To add insult to injury the pattern is messed up. Yes, I again blame the freakin' pattern and the horse it rode in on. I measured three times and compared with the pattern picture but somehow there is too much fabric being bunched by the elastic so it poufs right at the waistline. Talk about unflattering. As my friend put it this morning, "Wow, it makes you look pregnant." Not something the girl who is going to the gym 5 times a week wants to hear.

Now you have seen my shame but have no fear. Better times lie ahead. I mean, it can only get better from here.

The Cherry on Top

I know you all get sick hearing this so often but hey, it's my blog so nah.

I live in the best of all worlds. I mean that in a very personal sense of home life because yes, there are still lots terrible things in the world but I have this wonderful little place called home. I have a sweet, smart and lovely little girl. She was frolicing in the front yard this afternoon and it was too cute to miss. I have the wonderful and awesome husband who is off taking care of stuff today and will be home tomorrow. And in the meantime, I have roses and mint (cat optional) in my front garden. I mean really, does life get better? I think not.

The Good

The knitting has been going well and more is underway.

In the department of finished projects I have this cute little toy ball (it rattles!) I knit for Emma and she loves it. This girl has an unnatural love of spherical toys and every time she spots one anywhere she exclaims, "Ball!" They are by far her favorite. :)

Details
Pattern: Toy Ball from Knitted Toys
Yarn: Red Heart Sport weight (nothing special here)
Time: about 2 days to knit and sew it up

For those works in progress: I'm about 65% done with the Equestrian Blazer and I've just finished the back of a sweater I'm making for Emma. With that much progress you'd think I'd be crunching to finish them first but that would be the sensible thing to do. Instead I've just cast on to make the Central Park Hoodie. Now, hear me out. I've booked a flight to Anchorage in August to visit some friends up north and I think the hoodie would be so perfect for fall weather in the Arctic. Given that, I'm going to do my best to finish this hoodie up so it can make the trip with me. "Does it really take you 2 1/2 months to make a sweater?!!?," you ask. The answer is I have no idea so I'd better just start now. The picture of the purple-ish yarn is what I'm making the CPH out of. :)

Stay tuned. Next we will have postings of the ugly sewing project.

new words and trips

Emma's vocabulary is increasing so quickly this week. She's had a new word for almost every day.
Saturday: lots of "wow"s as we hiked up Rock Canyon
Sunday: "baby"
Monday: "hello"
Tuesday: "cheese"
Thursday: "bye"

We've been getting a kick out of every new word she comes up with and she's showing some very definite likes and dislikes. We have this awesome stroller and backpacking carrier (courtesy of my very generous brother) that Emma loves. I mean every time she gets into the garage and sees her stroller (or her backpack carrier) she climbs into it and cries if you take her out. Oh well, the exercise is good for me. :) The picture was taken last Saturday when we went hiking up Rock Canyon.

I've also finished a couple of projects and I'll post the good, the bad, and the ugly next.

Paintin' on her toes

One of my great coping tools in life is having painted toenails. Don't ask why because I don't have an answer, all I know is that when there are no pretty toes there is not a happy Lisa. When I was super pregnant and had not seen my own toes in weeks Morgan painted my toenails for me to make me feel less whale-ish. He figured if he could paint a car he could paint my toes...and he put racing stripes on me. I kid you not.

Now that I have Emma it's hard to find precious alone time to do my toesies so she often sees me in the process of painting the toes. I never realized how much children mimic until Emma and it cracks me up that a 17 month old girl wants her Mommy to paint her toes. The really crazy part is that she sits still long enough for me to paint them and lets them dry. Nuts. I can only assume it must be genetic. :) Hence the matchy-matchy cute toes picture.

As this post indicates, I'm going to keep the blog the way it is. Much has been going on in the last few weeks so stay tuned! :)

Should I delete this blog?

Hi Everyone!

I have no way of tracking how many people or who exactly visits this website. I'm not sure if anyone reads this site or if people I don't want to know my personal life are reading it (and you know who you are). I am contemplating a few courses of action.

1. Restrict this blog so you need to log-in to read it
2. Delete this blog
3. Leave it as is

Please leave a comment for me about what you think. If no one leaves a comment or no one really seems to care about the fate of this blog I might just delete it. I mean, why put the time and energy into blogging for nothing? Oh, and sign your name to your post because I have no idea who "anonymous" is.

Many Thanks!
Lisa