Winding Up

So a little knitting did get done while we were vacationing. I knit in the car for most of our travelling, working on the Gathered Scarf. Nice, easy, mindless knitting. Perfect for a long car ride with constant interruptions from the bored children sitting behind you. I began it in the line-up for the border crossing from BC into Washington State. I'm using Knit Picks Gloss fingering weight yarn and size 7 & 9 needles. It's producing a lovely fabric, I can't wait to wear it this fall! It's only a couple of feet long at this point, but it'll be a good travelling project to work on at work in the coming months.


A few months back, for my birthday, I received a ball winder and swift from KnitPicks. Because of our crazy double move I only just recently had a chance to wind up some yarn with it. I was very disappointed. The swift is a bit rough around the edges, not a nice smooth wood like I would have expected, but that is something I can live with. The disappointing part was the ball winder. No matter what I did it would not produce lovely looking yarn cakes like I have seen all over the Internet, and in person from my friends. In fact, one of my friends owns the KnitPicks ball winder and her cakes come out awesome. So I went on to every knitters favorite website, Ravelry, and onto the forums where I found a whole thread about this particular ball winder. Turns out I wasn't the only one to get crazy lopsided piles of yarn, it wasn't me, it was a problem with the actual winder. So late on a Sunday night I sent an email to KnitPicks, not expecting a response for a while, I mean, they were closed and all, but low and behold, immediately the next morning I had a response apologizing for my funky ball winder and that they would send another out in the mail to me immediately! They didn't even want the old one back! They said just to chuck it! Crazy!

I have always heard good things about the customer service from KnitPicks, but this was my first experience with it, and I have to say I am thoroughly impressed!

Anyways, my ball winder has crossed the Canadian Border (according to Canada Post), and I expect it will arrive any day now. I'll let you know how the new one works.

A Vacation in Pictures

Cannon Beach, Oregon

(The Cabin Where We Stayed)

Long Beach, Oregon

(Kite Festival)

(Wild Bunnies)

We are so going back.

Heat Wave!

Well I guess it's from one extreme to the next around here! Last post I was talking about how we were so cold in the house since we've turned the furnace off, now we are in a bit of a heat wave! My car thermometer registered 40 C (104 F) on my drive home from work the other day. Granted, the hot metal of the car usually ups the temp by a few degrees, but wow. For some of my friends who are used to this kind of heat (hi Charmaine who lives in Phoenix!!!) are probably rolling their eyes at me right now, but we do not have a pool in our backyard, nor do we have air conditioning. So to us, this is significant. I have been surviving by laying on the couch with a fan blasted right at me, spreading out as far as I can so none of my skin touches, and eating plenty of ice cream sandwiches. I've gained 3 pounds. I am so not made to live in the heat!

We had a family reunion yesterday - all the relatives from my mom's side of the family. It was pretty cool to see everyone - some I haven't see for at least 15 years! My cousin hosted at his home, a very beautiful home on acreage. There was so much to do. We spent the afternoon swimming in the pool, jumping on the trampoline and flying down the zip line!

Here the kids are getting ready to come flying down. It was soooo high up. I was really scared when it was my turn, it was so hard to step off the ledge! (I'm a big chicken.)

The smaller kids were just rippin' down. It was very fun. The event was catered courtesy of my cousin John (the host), and the food was FANTASTIC. I never in a million years expected such extravagance. I thought it was going to be hot dogs, hamburgers, and pasta salad - typical BBQ fair, but instead there was Fillet Mignon, salmon, brisket, so many salads and yummy vegetables., and chocolate fondue for dessert. It was heaven.

Here's Maeghan with a couple of cousins (my second cousins) whom she has never met. The girls were inseparable. They had a great time. It was especially nice for Maeghan because on Aidan's side of the family there are no other girls her age. And in our immediate family no girls at all. So she was really thrilled, I hope we can keep in touch with everyone a little bit better.

Tomorrow evening we are having a family dinner to celebrate my brother Darren's 30th birthday (Happy Birthday Darren!) and my Dad's 61st Birthday (Happy Birthday Dad!). Their birthdays are 3 days apart, as well as Aidan and I having our wedding anniversary right in between! It will be 7 years this year. Time flies!

I'm going to need this weather to cool down a bit if there's going to be any knitting in the near future. I'm trying to think of a project to take along to Oregon this summer (road trip!). Something small, and portable. Maybe I'll start some of those Ribby Slippers fr0m last year's IK Gifts. They would make good gifts. Or perhaps a lacy scarf for me. Hmmm, I'll have to think on it a bit more. Have a great weekend everyone! Happy BC Day! I love long weekends!

Apparently we need to build another fire.....

This is what I woke up to this morning. The kids playing their Game Cube, apparently a little cold!


Hopefully the weather will get a bit warmer by the end of the week!

Slowly we are bringing boxes over from the storage unit. Aidan is planning to rent a truck for the heavier stuff later this week. It's hard having things here and there, but most of the stuff that is there can probably head straight to the thrift store anyways! We've been doing without a lot of it since last August!

Owen has managed to finds his caps, but not his cap gun. So, he's banging the caps with a rock! I remember doing this when I was kid. Great fun!

Ski goggles and swimming goggles - safety first!

We are finally home!

Wow! Has it really been two months? I know it's been awful quiet around here (Aidan sent me an email saying, and I quote, "You need to update your blog, you're beginning to look pathetic!"). Thanks dear. So here I am, finally!

We've been very busy around here, after two big moves we are finally home!!!


I think that was one of Aidan's happiest moments, pulling that sign out of the ground. I think Maeghan's favorite moment was the "loud" party we had on the first day. We let the kids scream as loud as they wanted for as long as they wanted! It felt so good after years of constantly shushing them. Now we can let them be kids. It's awesome!

Notice the lovely brown carpets.......or actually, try not to!

I swear there is nothing more attractive than a man who'll clean the toilets.
(picture taken on the sly by Owen)

The first major renovation was a new roof, hopefully the roofers will be done by tomorrow. The big bin finally left today. I can park in my garage again! That is a novelty in itself! A garage! The only other work going on right now is renovating the kids bedrooms. Here is Maeghan painting her room. She chose the color and I think it will be very pretty when it is done. I will do a before and after post when everything is complete.

Last night we had our first fire! I know, in the middle of July. It's been cold this week and we've shut the heat off until fall. Boy was this a long time in coming. When we purchased our townhouse 5 years ago, one of the selling features was that it had a wood burning fireplace, however, we were never able to use it due to the chimney not being safe and the long drawn out process of the Strata figuring out whether they would pay, or if we had to, to get it fixed. As soon as that fire was lit the whole atmosphere of the evening changed. It was lovely! And the best part? We actually have TWO wood burning fireplaces in this house. I can't wait till winter!

Mother's Day Update

The Mother's Day Tea was awesome! Owen greeted me at the door with a shiny silver necklace that he placed around my neck before taking me by the hand and leading me to the table where we would be sitting. He had decorated the table with a place mat that he had made for me, a tomato plant he had grown for me, and a beautiful card that he had made me. It was a very fancy tea, pretty teapots and linen tablecloths. The grade 5 class were our server's. They did an excellent job and took very good care of all of the mom's. I was not thinking, and am kicking myself for not bringing my camera, I was probably too traumatized by the Rice Krispie Squares.

Ahhh yes, the Rice Krispie squares. They did not turn out well. They were so hard and crispy that I almost broke a tooth when I tried one out. Seriously. I could not figure out what the heck I did wrong. Then suddenly a light bulb went off. I used a 4 cup measure, my brain thought I was using a 2 cup measure. I had put in far too many Rice Krispie's! But, it was too late to make something else, so I brought them anyways, warning Owen to stay away from that particular plate of goodies. Fortunately when I got to the school I was one of the first ones there and was able to slip the plate onto the food table without anyone noticing. No one knew that I brought them! Later on Owen pointed out to me the plate that we needed to avoid in a five year old "whisper". I pretended to not know what he was talking about.

On Sunday we headed to the park to have a picnic with some friends. Owen was thrilled to have a boy to play with, and he and his friend Tomis spent most of the day wrestling in the grass.


While Maeghan drew with chalk with the twins.

It always amazes me how they are both naturally drawn to doing your typical gender related things. You would never catch Maeghan wrestling with her girlfriends in the grass, or sitting for hours at the skateboard park watching the big boys skate, and while Owen loves little kids and chalk, he definitely prefers the "boy" pursuits of skateboarding and pretend fighting.

Anyways, Jane is coming along, I love how she is turning out, and can't wait to be done! Hopefully I won't get stranded on sleeve island for too long! I should have pictures soon.

P.S. Thanks for all of your wonderful suggestions on cleaning my Krispie pot. I did end up soaking it in hot water and it all came off quite nicely. I do not know where my brain was last week. I will definitely be trying to make them in the microwave next time!

Just Call Me Martha

I'm sure by now most of you know that I'm not much of a baker. I've made some attempts at bread, which have been favorably received, but I am not one to bake on a regular basis, nor do I have the desire to. When Owen came home from school with a notice saying that his class was going to host a Mother's Day tea and that I needed to bring a tray of goodies, I immediately thought "no big deal, I'll just swing by the bakery and pick up something yummy!" But what I failed to realize immediately was that one of Owen's little buddies has severe allergies, and whatever I brought in had to be completely nut free. Yikes. I wasn't confident that I could find something nut free/made in a nut free environment so I decided that I had better make something myself. How hard could it be? I decided on Rice Krispie Squares, seemed simple enough. I've never made them before (I know, seriously?) but I had all the ingredients on hand which made it the perfect choice from a grocery budget stand point (yes, I'm on a strict food budget...more on that to come).

The marshmallow melting went smoothly enough, nothing burned. Then I mixed in the Rice Krispie's and stirred until I thought my arm was going to fall off. Mr. Rice Krispie said to add some vanilla to the melted marshmallows, but thankfully he said it was optional, because I forgot. Yes, there are only 4 ingredients, and I forgot one of them. Nuff said. The kids are 5, they won't notice. Oh....but the mom's, darn it, I forgot about the other mom's. They are probably all homemakers extraordinaire, they will all know that I suck at even the simplest "baking". I may have to spike their tea.

I had thought ahead, though, and lined the pan with plastic wrap that I had sprayed with Canola so at least the removal from the baking pan wasn't a nightmare!

As I was pressing the whole schmoz into the pan I realized that I was crushing all of Rice Krispies. Boy you need to press hard, I was manhandling the stuff and it still wouldn't go nice and flat like the picture. Oh well, my squares have character.

But now what. How the heck do I get the remainder out of the sauce pan? I mean, it is like glue. I put it back on the burner and then as soon as some melted I would quickly eat it before it could harden again. My stomach hurts now and there is still lots left in the pan! This is a process people! So this is my question to you. Is there some secret that I'm missing out on on how to clean the damn pan?!!!

Ah, maybe I should just chuck it....