Good Day!

Cute Man and I have been married for 18 years as of today.

Actually the wedding was on the 28th of July, but the preacher apparently wrote the 29th. We didn't even notice the date was wrong-it was our photographer who noticed. By that time, the certificate was already filed, so we just say we have a 2 day anniversary.

Our wedding was a really small but fun event full of family and friends. We got married at the university chapel on the grounds of Oklahoma State University. Since I was a florist at the time, I did all my own flowers and decorations. My high school best friend (and bridesmaid) made my wedding headpiece--it was beautiful. My oldest son was 4 years old at the time and was the ring bearer. My 4 yr. old niece was the flower girl. All throughout the video you can hear Brandon and Brittiny calling to each other and giggling. It is sooo cute. We had a special ceremony where Eric presented Brandon with a special family medallion and recited a thing about how this medallion symbolized a blending of the families. The neat thing is that it had three intertwined wedding ring with a pearl in the center. Brandon told the story of when he got married for years.

A friend of my mom in law made the cake. It was a huge three tier Italian cream cake with cream cheese frosting--unbelievably good. In all the pictures of my wedding cake, it looks like the leaning tower of Pisa. The lady that did the cake forgot to bring the supports that went under the layers to support the stacks, so the weight of the layers started a tilt...Luckily the cake made it through the wedding and the reception.

My Mom catered the after wedding party at her house in Stillwater. I threw my wedding bouquet off the front porch of my parent's house.

Some of my friends still say it was one of the most fun weddings they've ever been at. What I remember most is that it was very relaxed--we just sat around and talked for hours.

The real fun started after the reception when we went back to the church to clean up and get my clothes. Someone had come in before us and cleaned--taking my clothes with them. We were supposed to be the only ones with the keys to the church. To this day we still don't know what became of my clothes, but my girlfriend (Lisa) bought my first set of clothes as a married woman since everything I had was in Tulsa, where I lived at the time....This was the first time my husband had ever met all of the gang from Enid. I think he was a little intimidated by how downright rowdy we could get.

Oh, and did I mention the whole Enid group came to the house in Stillwater that my husband was living at (he was in college, I worked and lived in Tulsa) and spent our honeymoon with us? And did I mention that one of the gang included an ex boyfriend who also happened to be my maid of honor's ex also--that's actually how she and I met-we've been friends for over 20 years now, but that is a story for another time.... Stories like that even I can't make up! This guy made a really wonderful friend, but a really lousy boyfriend, so we stayed friends and he was invited to the wedding. At any rate, we all survived the night...But there are a lot (!!) of other stories that go with that night...Like how Christine and Eddie almost got us arrested after having a fork chase under the table at a restaurant. Little did we know there was a table of 8 or 9 highway patrol/cops having dinner and watching our obviously snockered antics. Geez. Those are some of my funniest memories.

I have really been blessed with good friends and a wonderful hubby who just rolls with the punches..After 20 years together, he's still the center of my soul.

Happy Anniversary Cute Man!

Long post --finally

I have been down for a whole week--literally. I won't go into details, but I have had a steady diet of percocet and water for the whole week and have just gotten to the point where I can actually get to the computer to post. Things are looking up, so I am anticipating finally being able to get to Twist and The Beadery this week for at least a little while. The bummer is that I think I missed the fiddlehead mittens class at Twist that I have been looking forward to.

Damn.

I hope Jen offers it again. There was no way I could have been in class and in the condition to actually knit. When I could actually concentrate on knitting at various times this week, I cast on and started working the Barbara Walker pattern above. It is a relatively simple pattern, but it does require that you pay attention. If you look really close at the project, there are mistakes in the first series of 8 rows, but I just said to heck with it and moved on. This is going to be a really long wrap shawl for the theatre with crocheted edgings, so if anyone picks out the mistake in the middle of all those rows, I will diagnose them as OCD and stay away from them...

The animals in my house have a rough life. On the back porch, Charlie cat and Speckles are having a vigorous workout..cat napping is rough business!
And that porky pig butt under the couch pillow is actually a very chubby dachshund.. Blonde dachshund with a piggy pink belly...how cute!
And yet another shot of a teenager in a papason chair nest....

And that is all the excitement this house has seen...ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Family Time in Oklahoma

Yesterday, we went to Agra, Oklahoma to visit my in laws and celebrate my niece's birthday. As you can see, there is a little bit of a size difference between the older kids and their young cousin...
Problem solved....Goofy boys!
I'm not sure if they are the Three Musketeers or the Three Stooges.
My awesome sister in law and the birthday girl. Isn't my niece so cute! She was a little bit intimidated by all the big boys running around, but I think we both agreed that girls rule, boys drool....We women have to stick together.

My mom in law, dad in law, sister in law and cute hubby. Unfortunately Roxanne's husband had to stay in Texas for work and church stuff, but we'll catch up with him the next time we get to Texas.

It was a really good end to the weekend. I enjoy hanging out with my in-laws. I'm a pretty lucky girl to have a magnificent hubby and in-laws I adore. I'm truly blessed on many levels.........

Repeat after me...

I will not knit a lace pattern while talking.

I will not knit a lace pattern while talking.

I will not knit a lace pattern while talking.

CRAP!

Frog...frog..frog...

CRAP!

Friday Post

Boy, did I ever sleep in today!

The boys didn't have weight lifting/pt at the school today (it ran the full summer for the football kids) , so we use Fridays as our crash day. I took one of the boys to the doctor because he has been complaining about his leg hurting. I was afraid he had pulled something during practices and definitely didn't want him to be out the entire season by making it worse. Turns out he has a quad (?) strain--that means he will have to lay off the lower body conditioning for a week, then the doctor will decide if we need to do physical therapy to get it worked out. Chances are that just letting it rest will do the trick though.



What do you have planned for the weekend? I am planning to take a crochet class at Twist this Saturday so I can finally help customers that come into the store with a crochet question. Usually I have to hand those questions off to Shelly but I think it would be nice if I could actually be able to handle them.

Sunday we are running to Agra for my niece's b-day. My mom in law and I usually go to Texas for my niece and nephew's b-day, but this year my sister in law and her family are coming to Oklahoma. I am off to search for something pink with lots of sparkles tomorrow. That's my girl!



As far as my pledge to not buy anything new for the next 2 months, that has kind of crashed and burned. I bought 4 (YES 4) skeins of Lorna's Lace's sock yarn while I was at the Newton Beadery. Candice had ordered the neatest colorway that just had to be adopted. I am crazy about the red, yellow and blues in the Lorikeet colorway, so I had to have it. I also picked up a couple skeins of Cascade Venezia to make a shawl. One of the skeins and I had a run in last night and I spent a considerable amount of time having to untangle the mess. You know it is not going to end well when you pull from a center pull ball and half the ball pulls out. I can't even BEGIN to tell you how much fun that was. NOT. Let's just say there is a REASON I do not try to help with untangling yarn at the shops! All's well that ends well doesn't apply to the mental scarring that occurs if I have a role in untangling yarn...

And along with yarn from The Newton Beadery, I bought volumes 1 and 3 of Barbara Walker's stitch dictionaries from Twist Yarn Shop. The sheer number of patterns in book 1 (500!!!) is mind boggling. These books are more of an investment than most stitch dictionaries, but I haven't found any dictionary that comes even close to the depth and clarity of these. They will more than pay for themselves in a very short time. Book 3 is mainly charted patterns with a really good tutorial. I have completely fallen in love with a charted raised spider pattern in this book. Wouldn't that be awesome to have a spider relief on your back shoulder or right over your heart? I know, that sounds strange--but I think it would be really neat. I am a little twisted that way. I want a sweater in red Alpaca With A Twist yarn, in a simple stockinette body style so the spider just pops out at you.

It has struck me that it would be good to learn to knit from charts since I noticed there are more knitters that are bringing in charts. Shelly gracefully volunteered to work through some of the charts with me, so I hope she doesn't mind if I take her up on the offer.

2008 is going to be my year for learning and growing in my knitting comfort zone. I am also trying to get UFO's done and frogging half done projects that are not going to be worked on for a while. Ideally I would like to have a maximum of two projects going at any point. Right now I have several that I started and put down...Into the frog pond they go! I am going to finish the shawl and the North Hampton wools sweater (the boys are looking forward to wearing this) before I work on anything else...ideally. I am not promising to not have a sock project on the needles at all times--I usually do. However, I am going to make an effort to get things completed so I can actually have things to show for my efforts.

Lincoln-Kennedy Similarities

My kids brought this home from school --very interesting!

*Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
*John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.
*Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
*John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.
* The names Lincoln and Kennedy both contain seven letters.
*Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
*Both wives lost their children while living in the White House. (NOTE FROM ME: I'm not sure why it is stipulated as "wives lost their children"..assuming John and Abraham were the fathers, it seems odd to write this as applying only to the wives...I know, picky..)
*Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
*Both were shot in the head.
*Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy's secretary was named Lincoln.
*Both were assassinated by Southerners.
*Both were succeeded by Southerners.
*Both successors were names Johnson.
*Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.
* Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.
*Both assassins were known by their three names.
*Both names are comprised of fifteen letters.
*Booth ran from the theatre and was caught in a warehouse.
Oswald ran from a warehouse and was caught in a theatre.
*Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.

And who says there is nothing interesting about history...

What A Tangled Web We Weave....

Sometimes, even the pros can get in a pickle.

Usually I'm the one doing fancy funky cat's cradle-string-arty-things with customer's yarn while winding it--but this time it was Shelly's turn.

And what an adventure it was.

Did I mention it was NORO -- the velcro of yarns? This stuff would stick to a greased pig..AND NO !! I HAVE NOT TRIED IT...So after doing interesting designs, she called for reinforcements. Wisely, she did NOT call for me.

EXPERIENCE is not always the best teacher, but in this case, it was pretty darn entertaining.

Little Ms. Jenny 8 balls (I'll tell you THAT story at the end of this post) thought she could sweep right in and get that wild tangle of Japanese wool under control lickety split. Well, I had to get out my camera. After a few minutes, you can see how successful THAT turned out.

Of course, I was totally heckling from the sidelines.

And in an attempt to get it under control, Jen struck the YARN VIXEN pose you see below.

From this day forward, knitters with daughters have an alternative to the "penny birth control advice" that comes in so handy. You know the one where you give your daughter (niece or any free range teenage female whose offspring you don't want to raise) a penny and tell her that the way to prevent babies is to take that penny, squeeze it between her legs..

AND DON'T DROP IT!

As modeled above by Jen, a strand of yarn will do in a pinch if you've spent your last penny on yarn....

FOR THE LOVE OF NORO, JEN-- DON'T DROP THAT STRAND!!!! Actually, I think I'll save the story of why I call her "Little Ms. Jenny 8 Balls" for later...I'll just leave you hanging.

Note added later (7/17) : As typical ME --I got the names turned around (reality dyslexia?) --JEN was winding and Shelly came to her assistance. I came in at the point that Shelly had the look of determination on her face in the fisrt picture. It didn't make the situation any less hilarious, but I did want to make sure I at least tried to stay true to the situation. And they did get it untangled, after I got a LOT of really good pictures and blackmail photos for later...

Blah, blah, blah.........

I am ashamed to say that I have no pictures to spice up this post. I REALLY planned to have pictures of my earrings I've made, pottery I've made or something at least vaguely entertaining, but....

So please just sit back and read a spell.

This was a pretty lazy weekend, which is really what I needed after so many trips to Stillwater and points in between. It was nice to just relax. However, as a result of actually being in the house for more than a couple hours, I realized I have some serious catching up to do on the housework. Can you guess what I will be doing tomorrow?

Oh, and I will be running to pick up some laundry detergent. Exciting, eh? But this is no ordinary laundry detergent...Hubby and I stopped by Food for Thought, the natural food shop on Central here in Wichita and they were passing out samples of Meyers Clean Day laundry detergent. I thought "Nice" when I got the sample--free soap for a load of laundry. Tonight I poured it in the machine and absolutely fell in love with the Basil scent. It was outrageously good smelling! And it cleans better than my other detergent, which will remain unnamed. Figures. We switched to Seventh Generation dishwashing soap for the same reason. Not only is it easier on the environment, it totally out cleans any dishwashing soap I've ever used. Go figure. And no, I'm not being paid to hawk these two products. They REALLY work...Since I stock up on Seventh Generation when it is on sale, I am going to price the Meyers tomorrow and get at least one bottle--it smells too good to not buy. Let me guess, you are absolutely spellbound by my laundry adventures..Sorry, it's been a slow weekend so that's as good as it gets for now.

On the knitting front, I am searching for a small table to put my ball winder and swift. I started to buy the stuff to build a table yesterday and then realized (OK, my hubby pointed it out) that I had $60 of materials in the basket for a table I might be able to find cheaper...I plan to hit a couple thrift shops in the morning for THE table. Not just any table--THE table. I'll know it when I see it.

I hope.

On the yarn front, I'd really like to say I have behaved in the arena of yarn buying, but that has NOT been the case. We got some really wonderful colors of Crystal Palace Panda Wool in at Twist, and before I knew it, I had given several skeins of it a new home. And if the Lorna's Laces sock yarn in the Lorikeet colorway is still at The Beadery on Wednesday, guess who it is going home with? I have been slobbering over it for several weeks and have decided if it is still there, it is a sign that I should give it a home. I'd really hate to leave it homeless. I might be a smart ass, but I am very yarn compassionate. Can't leave it homeless, can I. That would be cruel....

My name is Rhonda and I am addicted to yarn....

and books..

and beads...

and....

Beach dreaming...

We had originally wanted to fly to Pensacola, Florida to hang out at the beach during this month, but with the kids football and weight training camps, that hasn't been possible.

Hubby suggested we use our stimulus check and go in September when the crowds are not so great and the beaches are not so hot. Sounds good to me. So I have spent part of the day surfing the web to see what rates are going to be and it does appear they will be cheaper. I love the ocean and I really can't wait to go.

A couple years ago we went to Gulfport, Mississippi and were really disappointed with the way the beaches looked and the fact that the city was pretty dirty. That was right before Katrina ran through the area.

When we talked to the boys, they were sure they did not want to go back to Gulfport since we really were looking for a beach that they could collect seashells. It appears there are a lot of places up and down the Florida coast where we can look for shells and the hubby and kids can snorkel.

We might go to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi one of the days we are in the area. I was completely in love with that town and the fact it was wiped away by Katrina really made me sad. I want to see how everything has changed and spend some $ there to contribute to the local economy. I know it won't be the same, but I can't imagine there won't be something magical there. The people in that town were part of the magic. The funny thing was the last time we were in Bay St. Louis-prior to Katrina--there was a hurricane during that time also and we watched it as it moved across the Bay into New Orleans. It mainly encompassed a lot of rain, but nothing the size and force of Katrina. Residents were like, "Oh, it's just another hurricane". I can honestly say that flying in a small plane and hitting an unexpected storm pocket sucks(radar and air traffic control don't always have up to the minute info in a fast moving storm), but other than one scary incident, we had no problems flying in. I am hoping we avoid hurricane season or at least an active hurricane--this time.

It has been way too long since we were at the beach and it is time to get back! Ideally I want to stay right on the beach so we don't have to drive and park. One of the boys and I like to get up extra early (5:30 a.m.) and walk the beach. It would be so much easier if we just had to walk outside to get to the ocean. I love being on the beach and watching the sun rise. There are a couple hotels right on the beach that are looking pretty good. Other than going to the Naval Aviation Museum, everything else will involve putting our toes in the sand.

Can you tell I'm looking forward to it?

How To Make a Center Pull Ball Left Handed

This is a good illustration of the technique--even though there is no sound. It is always good to know how to do this if you don't have a ball winder available..'cause eveyone needs to know how to pull their balls from the center...snicker, snicker. Yep, had to drop the humor down a level...or three.

Lazy Sunday..with bumps

Hubby took the kids to the movies to see "Hancock" so I had the day to hang out and be completely lazy. It was delicious.

The peace was just interrupted by a phone call from him reporting that they just tried to start the car to come home and it wouldn't even turn over. CRAP. The dishwasher decided to give up the ghost earlier this week--we don't need anything else to break! He did call 5 minutes later to say he got it started and will drive it home, but I may be taking it to Enid in the morning to see what the heck is wrong with it. I don't need to get stranded when I'm going up to Newton.

However, I can guarantee that next pay period, I am definitely going to sign up for Triple A road service. We let our old policy lapse--I am going to get it again. It is worth the peace of mind. Towing can get expensive!

I'm frustrated about the car and the fact that it seems like these things happen when money is earmarked for better things. DAMN.

Changing the subject....

I got to do a little exploring last time I went to Stillwater and was surprised at all the new housing developments that are going in. A lot of them are really pretty gated communities, which seems to be a growing trend everywhere. Stillwater is really growing in leaps and bounds though. There is a winery on Jardot that I am going to have to try next time I am there. I didn't realize we even had one in Stillwater, so I am looking forward to trying them out. There is also a bead store and a quilt shop I am going to have to explore when I am there. It seems like there are a lot more shopping options downtown, as well as a new wine bar next to Aspen Coffee Company. It's always a good sign when a downtown is thriving. Chain stores are good and fine, but the strength of a community is in the local businesses. I try to shop in local businesses as much as possible so my dollars benefit the local economy. I find that I have moved away from shopping at Wal-Mart at all except for rare occasions.

I have to go to Stillwater at some point this week to complete wedding flowers for a friend of my niece. I was a florist through college and much of my time in Tulsa, so wedding flowers are a snap to do. The only thing I dislike doing are the huge plate sized corsages made of chrysanthemums and tons of ribbons and hanging gizmos that are popular at college homecomings. I hated making them-and looking at them. Yuck! And believe me, when I think something is tacky, it it TACKY. I have a high tacky tolerance! If you have never seen one, it may be that it is a Southern thing.

The only other thing on the agenda tonight is to finish (hand) washing the dishes and to make a New York style crumb cake. One of the boys tried to talk me into buying a box of crumb cake mix at the store the last time we were grocery shopping. I looked at the preservatives, the price and the quantity of the finished product and explained we could whip on up twice the size, half the price, without all the preservatives and much better--from scratch. He is going to help me make it tonight. I love the recipe that I found in "Afternoon Delight" by James McNair. The cake is flawless and smooth, the crumb topping is perfect. I usually double the topping recipe since I love a lot of topping..The twins are 14, more than old enough to start learning to make some of their treats from scratch.

After that, I am going to work on a pair of earring I designed this weekend. I found some really cute lampworked penguin beads the last time I was in Tulsa and I am going to add some 8 mm Swaroski crystal cubes so it looks like the penguin is sitting on an ice cube. I thought that's be cute--I'll post them after I get the cubes on Wednesday at the Newton Beadery. I've been making a few earrings lately. I got a really wonderful book "Perfect Match" that has some really good ideas and inspirations.

National Anthem USA

Happy Independence Day.

No matter what your ideology is on the war, please do take a moment and give thanks and prayers for our soliders both here and away.
God Bless America!

State Fair Rant

Exactly WHO gets to think of the theme for the Kansas State Fair?

Last year it was "IT'S A WILD RIDE, BABY".... Definitely a testosterone induced theme. Every man I've ever run into that used that line was usually a little more prideful than he was a ride-full...

If my mother is reading this, SORRY..Oh, just who am I kidding. She survived my teen years, she's numb...

This year, the "powers that be" (or the powers that shouldn't have been) decided to go with "PICK UP SOME BUNNIES"

WTF?!!!

And the illustration is of two decked out hooker bunnies smiling. Again...

WTF?!

Maybe it is a generational thing, but have the people that decided that was a cute theme ever heard of "bunny bopping"? Great! Now Kansas will be known for hooker-looker bunnies you are supposed to pick up. Or we could be responsible recyclers and play with a combination of 2007 and 2008 : "Pick Up Some Bunnies, It's A Wild Ride Baby!"....

The billboards just creep me out. It takes a lot to do that!

Isn't there some law, natural or man made, against that?!I'm sure PETA will be jumping right on that like, well, two bunnies bopping....


I guess Kansas residents should just be thankful the theme makers didn't have cats on their minds. Can you imagine where we could go with that?!

Aren't you glad I'm not going there?!


Note to horrified friend Cindy: Yes, I know your parents read my blog...Hi Cindy's parent's! I love Cindy to death and am trying hard to influence her moral character.

Oh, and the bail bondsman thought Cindy was a hoot!

Giggles

There has been a sad passing. The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71.

Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours.Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded.

Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes. Despite being a little flaky at times, he still was a crusty old man and was considered a positive roll model for millions.

Doughboy is survived by his wife Play Dough, two children, John Dough and Jane Dough, plus they had one in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart.

The funeral was held at 350 for about 20 minutes.

(I wish I could take credit for this, but all the credit belongs to Year in Bread. Since they specifically said share it (see below), I am. I hope it made you giggle too!)

As per Year in Bread:

If this made you smile for even a brief second, please rise to the occasion and take time to pass it on and share that smile with someone else who may be having a crumby day and kneads it.

Hanging Close to Home

Today started off pretty darn bumpy from the get-go.

Luckily it has calmed down and I am not feeling like the world is spinning. I'm not sure what I got ahold of, but all day yesterday I had moment where I lost my balance and felt like things were spinning. But just for brief moments. I attributed it to not enough sleep when I went to Stillwater to run my mother around Tulsa, but today I was REALLY sick. So sick I stayed away from the yarn shop -- and that means I was feeling BAAAAAAAD. I definitely don't think Shel or any of the customers would approve of my sharing this. I am feeling better now, I'm hoping it was just a one day bug. You never know what you get exposed to sometimes.

I am in the process of getting the supplies together to assemble a water garden for the back yard. I really learned a lot in the class I took at Botanica and am really itching to get a water garden started. When I was in Stillwater, I noticed they have a Water Garden Society. They had a garden tour the previous week. Figures! I will keep an eye out for the water garden tours here in Wichita and in Tulsa also. My goal this summer is to get our backyard in shape and make it into a little retreat for hanging out. We are looking for a dwarf pear tree to complete the tree planting. When we moved in, one of the twins wanted a cherry tree and the other wanted a pear tree. We found the cherry tree and it actually put out little mini cherries this year, now we have to find a pear tree. I want to find a dwarf one so it will be easier to keep the fruit picked. I vividly remember the tree in my friend's yard that didn't get picked regularly. The bees were really aggressive--I do not want that.

On the knitting front, I am still plugging away at the OU mittens for one of the boys. I'll be doing OSU mittens next. I am also really looking forward to the mittens class at Twist at the end of July. I would love to be able to get some of these done in time for Christmas, but I'm not putting any pressure on myself in that arena. I will however be canning a lot more jams before the summer ends for the Christmas season.

Are you planing to make or buy Christmas gifts this year. What kind of handmade/homemade gifts are you planning?