Cable Knitting...

One day before Thanksgiving, a friend was at the high school subbing.  As she was supervising her class in the computer lab, she was working on a cable-knit baby blanket.  I oohed and ahhed over her handiwork and she gave me a short lesson on how easy it was to knit cables.  She doesn't use the special cable needle, here's a link to a blog and youtube video that will show you how:   http://www.theknittingscotsman.com/knitting-lab/video-lesson-how-to-knit-a-cable-without-a-needle/  

Over Thanksgiving break, I whipped up a few "mug cozies".  These are very quick to make and once I got the hang of it, I adapted a few different patterns that I'd found online to create my own 'look'.  If you are interested in the pattern, let me know and I'll post it or email it to you!

I was able to turn out a mug cozy in about an hour and a half, and I didn't buy any yarn, I just used left overs. 

My sister wanted some leg warmers for Christmas, so I did some research online and then, again, came up with my own pattern.  I don't fully understand how to knit in the round, so I just knitted these on straight needles and then sewed a seam.   I'm not 100% satisfied with how the seam turned out, but Emily seemed to like them well enough.  I tried them on with a pair of tall boots and they looked good sticking out of the top of the boots. 

Christmas eve morning as I was wrapping up the leg warmer project, I decided to whip up one last mug cozy for Emily.  I didn't have much yarn left, so I just did one quick cable on bigger (size 8) needles.  I really liked how this one turned out.  It's not as tall, but I think it looked really nice with the tan mug.  I had a chunky button with a farmy-scene on it which finished it off nicely!  This would be a great starter project.  If you're interested in the pattern, let me know!!!

Many hands make light work...

This is a multiple choice test.  Please read all choices and then choose the choice that best answers the question.  When you are finished, check over your test and make sure you answered all of the questions.  

1.  This is a picture of:
a)  a dirty combine
b)  a project that will take hours, if not days to complete
c)  something that you should not brush up against when wearing light colored pants
d)  all of the above

2.  These children are:
a)  learning the value of team work
b)  happy to be outside on the 1st of December in 50-degree weather
c)  saving their parents many trips from the machine shop to the water hydrant
d)  all of the above




3.  This little girl is:
a)  a true farm girl
b)  not afraid to get her hands dirty
c)  proud to be keeping up with her big brothers
d)  all of the above







4.  Dave is on top of the combine because:
a)  he loves to be daring
b)  he's power washing the roof and the hopper
c)  he's getting the kinks worked out of the powerwasher so his wife can take over from the ground
d)  all of the above







5.  The girl in the pink is:
a)  playing in the water!!!
b)  giving her mom's back a break
c)  learning that, in this family, we all work together
d)  all of the above








6.  After 3 hours of power washing, the combine is: 
a)  ready for a break, it's turning all pruney!
b)  looking a little bit better...
c)  tired of all those little kids climbing all over it!
d)  all of the above

 

If you answered "d" to questions 1.- 6., you scored a 100%!  Nice job, smarty pants!!!

Christmas Greetings!

This is the part where I gloss over the fact that I haven't blogged in 3 weeks...

So, what have we been doing?


Ummm... We had a visit from "Gingerbread Fred"!  This will be our last visit from him, too... He comes around at Christmastime to visit with each of the Kindergartners.  We had supper, read some books, had breakfast in the morning, usual Daly life stuff.

Let's see... We survived the Christmas program at church.  What a huge undertaking, but like our pastor's wife said, "It's a big responsibility to share with our church family the best story ever written!"
 

What else... Well, even the cattle are getting a dose of holiday cheer!  The guys put a light-up wreath on the back of the feed wagon.  I'm still scratching my head on this one... It is pretty cute, though! 







So, that's about all that's new with us.  Hope you are having a happy and safe Holiday season! 

A nice 5 day Thanksgiving weekend:  Why I love being a Teacher!!! 

Saturday I spent the day slaving over a big pot of spaghetti sauce.   Nah, not really...my Crock Pot did all the work!!! (See my previous Crock Pot Spaghetti Sauce post.) 

But, I did get my behind off the couch about 5pm to whip up some mozzarella stuffed meatballs!  

 

 

One pound ground beef,

One egg,

About 1/2 cup of bread crumbs,

Two sticks of mozzarella string cheese cut into 1/2 inch chunks,

Form meatballs around cheese chunks.  (About 15 meatballs.)

 Bake meatballs for 20 minutes or until no longer pink.  Drool over the ooey-gooey cheese as it seeps out of the bubbly, meat-bally goodness. 




I boiled some fettuccine noodles for a pasta base.  I topped the noodles and meatballs with my spaghetti sauce.  Everyone DEVOURED their dinner.  I need to double the recipe for my hungry tribe next time, though! 

As these Dalys like to say, "Eat Beef and Enjoy"!!!

 

 

These books you must read...

Along the lines of "You just never know what will happen next," is the saying, "You just never know what you'll find next!"  The other day I walked into the boys' bedroom to put something away and as I glanced out their window, I was surprised by all these creatures!

 

Younger son has been bit by the "Origami Yoda" bug!  Older son brought home the book, The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, by Tom Angleberger.  Younger son loves any and all things Star Wars and is a veracious reader, so of course, he devoured the book.  It didn't take long for him to get his hands on the next two in the series, as well (a Scholastic book order steal-- all three for only $8.99!).

 

Here's the premise of 'Origami Yoda':  Dwight is an weirder-than-usual 6th grader who creates an origami Yoda finger puppet who can predict the future!  Dwight and Yoda become a VERY popular duo at school as people have their futures predicted while trying to figure out if Origami Yoda is real or just a figment of Dwight's imagination.   I think I'm going to read these books myself!  The bits and pieces I've read are really funny!

 

According to the boys, these books are HILARIOUS!  The pages are mostly text with doodles in the margins and funny conversation bubbles, etc..  As an added bonus, there are origami instructions in the back of each book.   Younger son has mastered making an origami Yoda--he turns church bulletins, old homework papers, fresh/neat/perfect-for-math-homework notebook paper into Yodas wherever he goes!!!   

The three books are (in order):  The Strange Case of Origami Yoda,  Darth Paper Strikes Back, and The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee.
You can check out the official website of Origami Yoda at:  http://origamiyoda.wordpress.com/

You just never know what you'll find next! 

Thanksgiving Turkeys!

Happy Thanksgiving! 
 

Kindergarten Turkeys...

...these are some of the cutest turkeys I've ever seen!...










1st Grade Turkeys...

 
   ...thankful for her family, her friends, and her cousins...
 

Here are some more cute turkeys--and the edible kind!!!   Start with round, cut-out sugar cookies (I bought the package mix for $1.99, so much easier and quicker); frost with white frosting.  The beak is a piece of candy corn, the eyes are two chocolate chips, and the feathers are Reeses Pieces. 

These are quick, easy, and scrumptious!!!      

Here are 5 things I'm thankful for today: 

1.  The Downton Abby marathon on PBS right now.
2.  My new jean jacket that fits well, looks stylish, and goes great with my olive colored pants.
3.  YouTube videos that teach me new knitting stitches.
4.  That great French Vanilla Cappuccino they sell at Mobil.
5.  Pinterest.

Flat Stanley Takes the Stage!

Three friends and I have season tickets to our local playhouse.  We're coming to the end of our third season doing this, and what we love is that it means a guaranteed "girl's-night-out" 5 times a year!  When we went to the play in September, there was an ad for "The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley Jr." at the New Sullivan Theater in Rockford. We got this crazy idea that we'd share our love of the theater with our darlings. 
   




 Stanley Lambchop dreams of having adventures, and one night a fairy comes and grants him his wish by dropping a bulletin board on him, squashing him flat.  His parents fold him up and put him in an envelope and send him all over the world.
 
Flat Stanley is a set of children's books, and in preparing for the play, we read a book where Stanley scares a bully at a Halloween party, and another, longer chapter book where Stanley travels to Africa in search of other flat people.   

  While the play was definitely the highlight of the week, maybe the month..., we all agreed that the best part was being out-on-the-town with our friends!  My "ladies of the theater" friends are so much fun, and normally when we go to the play, the dads all get together and hang out with the kids.  Lord only knows what happens while we're gone...

 

 The kids all did a great job of watching the play!  My kids reported that their favorite parts were when Flat Stanley's mom took him to the doctor after the bulletin board incident, (the doctor tells Mrs. "Porkchop" that her kid is flat and to bring him back when he has the sniffles or a stomach ache, but don't forget to make a co-pay on her way out!) and the "cool kids" who decide to use Stanley as a kite--until the school bus comes! 

At the end of the play, Stanley goes back to being 3-dimensional, and his closing lines are:  "You don't have to be flat to have adventures, you just have to find the adventures in everything you do!" 

How true, how true. 

 

 P.S. See you on the 30th, Laura!