A Brief Update

Gosh, life gets busy with....

playing...

celebrating...

and making peace symbols that turn into rabbits.

I've also been knitting away and finished several projects and need to photograph them. Currently I'm working on a chemo cap for a friend of my mom's. Next on my needles will be a vest (Hollyberry)for... me! It will be the first knitted garment for me. Ok, there was that one ill-fated shell that still sits in my yarn stash mocking me, but hopefully this one will fit better.

Z (Buttons) is busy loving school. Reading has begun in earnest as well as writing words all over the place. "Mom, what makes the 'yuh, yuh, yuh' sound?" It's amazing to watch her mind working and hearing her read. It's going so fast and yet it's such an exciting ride I don't want it to slow down.

Mike is doing well, although his office changed locations and man, the commute is a killer. Luckily, he works from home sometimes and we get to eat lunch together and see him a bit more during the day.

Ok, I am now going to return to my regularly scheduled program, which today means cutting out paper snowflakes for our tree, shopping for groceries and gifts, making lunch for Z, taking her to school, cooking dinner and then a theater rehearsal for "Into the Woods".

Wishing you all light and warmth during this magical time.

Are You Still There?

It's official. I'm the worst blogger ever. Life has been so crazy with the play. My mother-in-law is coming for a visit that begins the weekend of the last performances. Life is busy, isn't it?

There are other things filling up my time right now but I'm not sure how much of it to share online, but I can tell you a few things...

1. No, I'm not pregnant.
2. It's good news.
3. It's not an addition to the family.
4. I haven't been discovered in the little community theater and offered big money to do Broadway.
5. I'm really excited and a bit nervous about it. (Oh, the lists I'm making.)

Eventually I will share, but I wanted to at least let you know there are things on my mind that are keeping me from blogging. If you're still here, thanks. I'm hoping to be back soon.

Give Me a Break

Here's the big problem with Nablopomo:
I haven't been keeping up on reading and commenting to other people's blogs. So, while Buttons is napping today, that's my plan. So I'm "skipping" a day today. (Although technically this is a post.) Oh shush, it is.

Happy Blogiversary Marsha!

In celebration of year two of her blog, my friend Marsha has a contest running. She asks what 3 things would we bring onto a desert island with us. Here's where we run into a problem Marsha. I need more information. How long will I be there? Are there others? Is there food? Are you asking me for things I cherish most or what I believe to be the most practical solutions to this problem?

Yeah, contests like these I will never win.

However, I shall make my own parameters. I have decided that I will only be on this desert island for as long as I desire. Food and shelter will be easy to find and the weather will be nice. I have decided this is like a vacation so Hubby and Buttons will be with me. I don't know if our kitty would do well, so I may have our neighbors take care of her since they spoil her anyway. I would like to bring clothing, but I'm not going to waste one on that.

1. Knitting. As much as I can fit into one suitcase. I can knit and re-knit, make my own patterns and do things I wouldn't normally do with my knitting because sometimes it seems like I just hold my knitting too tightly. Maybe I'd loosen my grip.

2. Ok, my next instinct is some sort of electrical device, but I'm sure that's not allowed, but I'd like to at least bring a camera. I can't seem to go more than 2 days without taking a picture and capturing as many moments as possible. (Maybe I should rethink that clothing thing.)

3. Chocolate? Books? Maybe I could finally kick my chocolate insanity. So, books it is. Yes, books with an s. Maybe the Hobbit trilogy or (sorry Marsha) the Harry Potter books. I haven't read all of either, but the books are long, well-loved and Hubby would read them too.

Wait, do Buttons and Hubby get there own 3 items? If not, that changes my answers, but knitting would still be on the list.

So Marsha, there it is, my contest entry. Thankfully you had few rules, so I shouldn't be disqualified. Happy Blogiversary! Keep blogging!

Chilli already?

While on vacation in Vermont, I made some chili for our household which consisted of Hubby, Buttons, Beth, her hubby, her two cuties and me. Beth told me I must post the recipe for my chili, so now that the monsoons have hit our part of the country and cool weather is here, I shall oblige.

Katie's Chili
Small amount of olive oil
1 large yellow onion
2 pounds of ground turkey (or ground veggie substitute)
About 40 oz of canned tomatoes, diced or chopped with juice
15 oz tomato sauce
12 oz tomato paste
2-15 oz cans dark red kidney beans
2 teaspoons salt
3-4 heaping teaspoons chili powder
2-3 bay leaves
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce (or Pick-A-Peppa)
Dash of tobasco

Directions:
Brown onion in olive oil, add turkey/veggie substitute and brown/warm. Combine other ingredients and cook in a crock pot on low for 4 to 6 hours, or on low on the stove for about an hour, stirring frequently.

You may serve on top of rice or with shredded cheese and tortilla chips.

I also persuaded Gina to post about "Toddisms" and I recommend her post to you.

No Pics

I am a visual person. I like my posts to have at least one picture. We did some update to our computer and it now believes that all pop-up windows are Satan and must be stopped. So, I haven't been able to post pictures and I realize that's a problem for me. I'm typing this right before lunch, so I'm not able to give you anything but an apology for not posting. Will workk this out and then I hope to be very bloggy.

(Not so) Wordless Wednesday

I'm waiting for Blogger to get their act together so I can post photos. Aaargh! Well, we're off to the library in the meantime...

Extraordinarily Long Comment on Friends Blog...

Gina at The Mirthful Menagerie had a post about putting a moratorium on yarn and other extraneous purchases because she is looking to buy a house and found one she loves. (Yeah, Gina!) I wanted to post a comment and it became very long. Then, for some reason I decided to share the post with y'all. It made me laugh. You can laugh with me or at me, but I hope you get a chuckle as well. Also, stop by Gina's place. She's fun.

A little history. Gina, Marsha, and I will frequently post the word verification at the end of our comments on each other's blogs. Hubby is into World of Warcraft. There is a knitting group in our area that Gina attends currently. (Hopefully even after a potential move.) And without further ado...

Oh yarn mistress, we will miss the vicarious yarn purchase, but we understand the need to stop for a while. Congrats on the possible house. Will cross fingers and send good vibes your way. (But will cross one less finger if you say you can't come to the knitting group!)

Um, Hubby wants the link to the Warcraft shirt.

Word verification: wuciyh
Pronunciation: wookieyah
Definition: a Wookie cheer

1st word verification failed.
2nd Word verification: ajcsuc
Pronunciation: adjecsuck
Definition: Adjective for describing things that suck.
Sample sentence: Word verifications ajcsuc.

(I also have word verification on my blog, so I am in no way dissing you.)

Kicking November to the Curb

Well, I had a goal to post everyday in November and I haven't completed that task. I'm tempted to go back and "rewrite" history by post-posting (heh). Here's my best excuse: As much as I enjoy visiting family, it really takes away my energy and the recoup is at least a week.

So, we'll have to see if I go back in time, or just soldier on and try not to worry too much about the past. I have a bit of perfectionism in me you know, and I think I'm only like 4 or 5 posts away from my goal. Stay tuned!

Recent Projects

Here are a few pictures of things I've been doing when I'm not blogging. The lavender yarn on the needles will be a boucle mohair moebius scarf. My friend P. showed a bunch of us at our knitting group how to do this and it's really a kick. The cast-on was kicking my but and I was quite frustrated by it, so perhaps I will post about that another time. The pumpkin colored hat was for hubby, but I think will find a good home with our nephew. The striped sweater has been a UFO for Buttons before I even saw a picture of her. The soup is the best homemade soup I've ever made. Chicken noodle with the right amount of seasoning. Yeah! My mom would be so proud. (She's a very good soup maker.) I also take so many pictures of Buttons that she recently gave me the "star" treatment.

Plum

Out of ideas for todays post.

My Look Alikes

I obviously need to figure out why this is all flukey. I will refer to my new Blog book and get back to this.

Everyday?

So apparently November is "post every day" month. It's also adoption awareness month, my hubby's birthday month (mine too), and Thanksgiving is in there somewhere as well. Posting every day seems daunting to me even when it seems I have much fodder to contemplate. I'll plan to at the very least post a different picture every day. Thanksgiving might get tricky though. We'll be seeing lotsa family!

Without going much further, let me say thanks to my secret pal for all of the great e-mails. She has some great movies to recommend along with a great sense of humor.

This pic is of Buttons making pizza and eating more toppings and cheese than she added .

While goat feeding (yes, we made another trip to the goats) her joy was palpable. She's scared of the caged chickens but will let the goats lick her hand. Yes, she did squeal.
Here's a pic of Buttons as a chicken (yes I know...irony) trick-or-treating. I think her favorite part was the flashlight. My favorite part was watching her little waddle walk in the padded costume. I'm having playgroup at my house this Friday (OMG, I am such a mom) and the kids are coming in costume. Why can't we do dress-up once a month instead of once a year?

Disclaimer: I do really I use a heavy amount of parenthesis and commas. Please forgive me, but I just can't help it. (Or can I?)

Congratulations Team Salsa!

I've been keeping up with "Do They Have Salsa in China" for quite some time. They are over in China right now meeting their daughters (twins!) Marie and Rose. Check out the first family picture here. Yeah!

Chili Cook-Off and Secret Pal

Ok, I would much rather give you a picture of Buttons from our local chili cook-off, but you'll have to settle for a pot of chili instead. I'm not a professional blogger and I can't seem to figure out how to turn my photos the right way sometimes. Oh well, the chili looks good, right?

The cook-off was fun and the day couldn't have been better. A slightly cool fall day with the sun beaming down, a flurry of people enjoying themselves, a band playing and all the chili you could eat.

Hubby helped out in one of the booths while Buttons and I strolled along the main street. Buttons took it all in and loved it. She danced to the big band as they played selections from "Chicago", she pointed out every dog she saw (there were many) and she enjoyed one of her favorite foods. Not chili, silly. ICE CREAM! Hubby joined us and we strolled some more and I was loving life.

This is a fairly small town, but I saw at least 3 adoptive families. In fact the picture I wanted to post was of Buttons and A., her new friend who was born in the Guangdong province of China 9 years ago. Buttons shrieked for joy playing hide and seek with A. Isn't it great how kids can just make friends like that (snap fingers)? It's a great gift. Speaking of new friends...

Secret Pal Update
I received my secret pal info for SP9 and promptly sent an e-mail to my spoilee. I won't say too much about him/her, so if she/he reads this, they won't figure out it's him/her.

I also received several e-mails from my spoiler. She sounds really fun and we've already sent e-mail back and forth a few times. She seems to share my love of music and I think she's kinda sassy. Rock on Secret Pal!

In other news, my hubby and I celebrated our 19 year dating anniversary yesterday. I'm the luckiest woman on the planet to be with this guy! (I'm also younger than you might think since we started dating very early.)