Productive Day!!!

Thought I'd show you what I've been up to for the past couple of days...

Flannel. Birthday Flannel.

My daughter turns 10 tomorrow and she's a ballerina!
We have a pond, so......


Ballerina Frogs!! Soft, cozy, dancing, ballerina frog pajamas! Don't they just make you smile?

I also completed a sock. One sock. My idea (that I came up with this morning) is to present my girl with the one sock....
and then, she can tell me if she wants a sock to match that one or she can choose the colours that she wants for a co-ordinating sock! Takes the pressure off me and involves her in making a fashion choice for herself and she finally gets the hand knit socks she's been after. (I sure hope she doesn't take the scissors to them! Stranger things have happened.)

I followed up on some emails and phone calls. (more party planning)

Did a full, FULL load of dishes by hand (the kids dried) because my dishwasher gave up the ghost yesterday and that darned dish washing fairy didn't come by last night a look after the dinner dishes! It's getting replaced tomorrow.

Managed to have a little bit of a nap because I'm trying not to let this cold and cough take full hold, but had to get up because my little darling decided she needed to clean out her desk in the room next to mine and apparently that involves a lot of banging and crashing...I haven't had a look at it yet; better check that out.

And finally finished something that my husband has been after me to do for a couple of months now.

Baby Blankets. Stop it!!! We're too old for that nonsense!

He needed one for a gift for a special little girl and I finally got around to putting something together for him to choose from. I made five, so the next time he says I need a blanket, (he works with a prolific bunch) I'll say, "Here, pick one!"

So, you know what happens when you have such a productive day?

PIZZA FOR DINNER!!!!

And maybe paper plates too.

Mama Called The Doctor...

{And while she was on hold she said, "How many more days until school starts?"}

So, I thought I would try to get some sewing done today. Maybe get a few flannel items crossed off the to-do list, and of course, because I'm down here trying to get some birthday jammies done for her, my daughter decided that she needed to work on the sock monkey kit that I gave her last Christmas.
I really wanted to foster this kind of mother - daughter bonding and showed her how to do a whip stitch. Encouraged her to thread the needle, "Yes, I know you've tried fifteen times. Try again." Shared my polyfil with her, "No, you don't need that much, put it back. Put it back. Put it back." Tried to keep her focused, "Don't touch that. Put that down. Stop poking that. That's not what that's for. Yes, that's my candy. I don't know why they don't make Turtles look like Turtles anymore. STOP STABBING THINGS!!!"

While I haven't been the most patient parent/person when it came to passing on the dying arts of cooking, baking, knitting and sewing to my children, I do, on occasion try. I don't cope (I just made a typo of 'dope'---maybe a little Freudian thing happening there) very well with the sloppiness and mess associated with teaching my children a new skill. Which is totally surprising, because I am so not a neat freak! I tend to use the, "Here, let me do that," approach; you know, "it's just easier if I do it", etc. etc.

I'm not proud of it, but that's the way it's been.

I've tried to teach both my children to knit. My son? It's not his thing, but I'm proud to say that he did give it a, albeit small, shot. My daughter? She's pretty good, that is, when she stays still long enough. I was hoping that giving her a skill that required her to sit still might encourage her to, I don't know, SIT STILL??? She's affectionately known as our "Whirling Dervish" Quite honestly, she has always moved so quickly from one thing to another that the only clue you had that she was about to move onto something new was when you heard the one word that filled our family with dread.

"Oopsie."

"Oopsie", covered everything from spilled milk, candle wax poured down a sink, sneaking chocolate, falling into a Bay, any number of broken fragile items to jewelry going down the toilet.

Well, that was when she was a little girl. She's soon turning into a big girl and we know this because her vocabulary is expanding. No more "Oopsie"; no siree. Now we're going to hear (as I did earlier today) "Uh-oh, that's bad."

AND THE DOCTOR SAID,

WHY IS THERE A NEEDLE STUCK IN THAT MONKEY'S HEAD????

X-ray, stat!

Just a Little Bit

Here's a muddled look (on purpose) of some top secret knitting.
It's lace.
Lace uses very tiny needles (well, bigger than socks, but stay with me on this one).
Lace yarn is very, very fine...finest there is, as it turns out!
So even when you knit and knit and knit and knit for hours it looks like you've only worked 'just a little bit'. The ball of beautifully handpainted yarn you started with, looks relatively the same after all those hours and hours and hours of knitting.

Not that there's anything wrong with that....
And then one Thursday evening, after an especially long and difficult few months, some friends who love and care about you, drop by, braving the tornado warnings and winds and rain, to share 'just a little bit' of time with you.
They don't want anything from you.
In fact they come bearing a gift that only a chosen few truly know how much it will mean to you.
They bring their own lemonade and they make their own tea.
They share their triumphs, their worries and their joys; one joy we all share, is the joy of yarn.

And how nice it is to knit 'just a little bit' of yarn (one ball) and accomplish this much!

Thanks ladies, I needed that!