ThirtySomething

Jack, Chris and I were window shopping the other day at Kohls.  It was a rare treat where Aeryn was with my parents and Jack actually came with us to browse…he usually chooses to stay home either with Chris or maybe his grandparents.  Jack was also in a very happy mood, which was an added bonus.  So, I was browsing the purses and Jack was looking at the ladies sunglasses and bringing different ones to try on.  All the while I told him, I am not buying any sunglasses because I already have a pair.  But we found a pair we both really liked for me and he decided he would hold onto them while we shopped.  Well, i moved on to the jewelry.  Jack started to bring earrings to me and he has such a great eye, I told him so too, everything he showed me was beautiful.  Well, he found a pair he said would definitely be my favorite and they were especially nice because they matched what I was wearing.  He was right, they were beautiful and I really did love them.  He also found a pair for his Nannie.  However, I wasn’t there to buy jewelry…for anyone.  So, as we were ready to leave, I told Jack that we needed to put back what he had.  Well, he put them down and when he turned around his face was red and tears were streaming down his face.  He sobbed, mom we picked those out together, it was what we both loved and it was special.  Oh my goodness!!!  I couldn’t believe he was guilting me into buying something for MYSELF!!!  LOL!  Well, you guessed it, momma got a new pair of beautiful earrings and Nannie is going to love the earrings she’s getting as well.  I did stick to my guns with the glasses though, he was happy enough that we got the earrings…he is so sweet and tenderhearted and loving!!!  That boy never ceases to amaze me!!

Jack and Aeryn started school this past Monday, August 23, 2010.  They were both so excited to go to school that day.  Jack didn’t really show it:

 

but he was so excited to get to school and see his friend from the previous year (his name is Jack as well).  We bumped into his friends mom on the way in.  She said hi to Jack and told him Jack was waiting to see him inside. 

Well, when we got inside the hall where all his classmates were standing, the other Jack spotted “Jack B” and started jumping up and down with pure joy and was so excited, he was shouting out Jack’s name; “JACK B JACK B JACK B!!!!!!!!!’ while jumping up and down and waving his arms around.  It was really very adorable…I will never forget that moment.  My Jack almost didn’t say goodbye to me, but I made sure he did before he took off down the hall to greet his friend. 

 

It was so wonderful to know that Jack’s friend was at his new school this year and Jack is truly enjoying school so far. 

We didn’t get to see Aeryn off on her school bus, Poppie put her on the bus since we had to drive Jack to his school, we just couldn’t get home in time to see her off.  She insisted on riding the bus, so I am thrilled she was happy to do that.  :)  I got some great photo’s of her that morning.  She is SUCH a morning person…very opposite of the rest of us.  LOL!

Aeryn also had a wonderful week at school.  Her school did a staggered start, so she went on Monday, Thursday and Friday.  She had a wonderful week.  I got some photos of her coming off the bus too:

It was a very bittersweet day.  I am so proud of Jack starting in the gifted and talented program.  I know he is going to do very well at his new school.  Aeryn almost went there with him….but it turned into a transportation nightmare.  So they are in different schools, which upsets me, but they’re both quite happy.  Which is what matters, but I am hoping next school year they will be back in the same school.  I am so proud of Aeryn my kindergartener.  She has been so excited to start all day school.  She couldn’t wait because now she would have art and gym and music.  She loves all these things.  She’s even excited for her homework assignments to start coming in.  LOL!  We had a great and wonderful start to the new school year, I hope this means the rest of the year will go just as well!  :)

Chris goes back to school in October.  I am so excited for this new chapter in our lives.  :)

On a side note, my mom and I went to Boyd’s Bears Country, Longaberger was there for Basket Fest.  We’ve gone every year for 4 or 5 years now it falls on the weekend before my birthday, so as a birthday gift my mom pays for a basket or for  me to make a basket, this year I made one:

Learning the ropes

Happily weaving

  Look at that concentration! More Concentrating!

Trimming

Putting on the adorable teddy bear tacs

  All finished!  :)

I had a blast, the guy helping me was great!  He was cracking us up the whole time!  :)  And my basket is so pretty!  :) 

This morning I put my soaked yarn into one of the mason jars along with some of the water it had soaked in and then poured 3 packets of grape koolaid on top and swirled it around a little so the powder was mixed in well.  I had a ver dark purple water…almost black looking:

I left for work at 8 am and just left it up to fate.  LOL!  Well, I left it in the capable hands of my husband and father in law.  Last night when I was telling everyone my plans for the yarn I was wrapping around the kiddie chairs, they all thought I was a little silly, but I guess they’re used to that from me.  LOL!  They were all eager to see the results however.  So, this morning I left for work and eagerly looked forward to updates from my hubby on the progress of my yarn.  So, all day he kept telling me the water had not changed, it still looks just as it did this morning.  I got home tonight at 7:30 pm, I was not too eager because Chris had told me all day it was the same.  So, this was the result:

Do you see it?????????

The water is CLEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  WOOHOOOO!!!!!  IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I was jumping for joy…I was so excited.  So, I rinsed it and the water was clear in the rinse and it smelled sooo yummy too.  :)

See the jar with the clear water, it’s just an amazing process.  And this is the yarn wrung out a bit and hanging to dry:

I canNOT WAIT to knit this yarn up into something….not too sure what it will be, I am thinking socks!  I can’t believe it worked!!!!!  WOOHOO!!!

So, I have been lurking for a few months on a yarn dying forum on Ravelry and I am finally going to take the plunge.  I re-skeined my sock yarn by wrapping it around a couple chairs (I wish I would’ve remembered to take a photo of that) and I have it soaking over night, tonight,

waiting to be dyed purple.  

In the morning I am going to pour the kool-aid into those jars along with the soaked yarn and I am going to put it outside all day to ‘solar dye’ my yarn.  I am so excited!!!  I really hope it works as well as I think it will.  I am thinking I may put some foil around the base of the jars…we’ll see how much time I have to mess with it.  I will update tomorrow.  :)  From what I’ve been reading, grape kool-aid tends to break…so I am excited to see what I come home to see after work!  :)  I am hopeful for purple yarn…but if something else occurs…well, that’s fun too!

Just a few thoughts about my hobby…obsession?   I love knitting.  At work, I am allowed to listen to music and podcasts and radio stations and such on my computer….I listen to podcasts.  I listen to knitting podcasts mainly with 2 mom podcasts and a few sewing podcasts as well.  I looooooove to listen to knitting podcasts though.  I learn so much about yarn, fiber, fiber producing animals, knitting accoutrement like needles and whatnot and of course patterns and techniques as well.  I love em!  This year I attended Maryland Sheep and Wool for the first time ever!  OH MY!!!  It was like heaven to my knitterly self.  I learned to drop spindle there and while I haven’t been practicing, I do really love it.  Maybe one day I’ll get a spinning wheel…that would be totally RAD!  :)

So, I have loved walking the yarn aisles of JoAnns or Michaels or even A C Moore, I could look at and touch so many different yarns and look through many pattern books and I was happy doing that.  Until recently I realized that I MUCH prefer going to my LYS (Local Yarn Shop) and that I MUCH prefer the “nicer” yarns they carry.  So, I realize I have become somewhat of what they call a ‘yarn snob’.  My preferences have changed in the 1 1/2 years I have been knitting.  It’s just funny to me because I never thought I would care. 

I have also realized what type of yarn I enjoy working with and that’s the smaller weight yarns, they produce such a wonderful fabric.  Sure, it takes much more time to make something with the smaller weight yarns, but it is sooo worth it in the end…I just love the drape the fabric has and the look and feel of the yarn itself.

I am also thinking of doing a podcast, a knitting podcast.  I am trying to get up the nerve, find the time, come up with something to say…I just need to get behind the mic.  One day, I am sure I will podcast.  Maybe when life isn’t so chaotic, I will podcast. 

I will end this rambling post, but I just wanted to talk of my love of knitting.  I really do love to knit.  I still sew too a very little bit.  I have a quilt to share, I will do that soon along with more of my knitting projects.  I am a slow knitter and a monogamous knitter, so I don’t have much….but that will have to wait for now.  I will also have a post about the goings ons in our lives soon, I just need to edit what I have…and I hope this will become more regular now.  I really want/need to chronicle this chapter of out lives.

Until…