Coffee Swap!

Here are my answers for the coffee swap 3 questionnaire...

1. Whole bean or ground?

I'm partial to whole bean, but wouldn't turn my nose up at ground.

2. Fully-loaded or decaf?
And the point of decaf would be...? Fully loaded for sure!

3. Regular or flavored?
Both have their place. I really like all of the flavors that come out this time of year though...pumpkin spice, gingerbread, etc.

4. How do you drink your coffee?
Cream and sugar.

5. Favorite coffee ever?
I don't necessarily have a favorite, I like a nice medium roast for everyday. The dark french stuff very rarely.

6. Are you fussy about your coffee or will any old bean do?
I'm not too fussy, but I don't buy Folgers or Maxwell house.

7. Favorite treats to have with your coffee?
I have a serious sweet tooth, and a weakness for chocolate. I'm not a big fan of nuts in my baked goods.

8. Anything else about your coffee preferences?
Not that I can think of...

9. Yarn/fiber you love?
I like blends...cotton/wool, wool/silk..stuff like that. Laceweight and sock yarn are always crowd pleasers!

10. Yarn/fiber you hate?

I don't like most furry/flashy/synthetic yarns.

11. What's on your needles?
A garnstudio jacket in Berocco Ultra Alpaca, the Secret of the Stole in Skacel laceweight, a baby dress in O~Wool, and the Josephine Top in Rowan 4ply cotton. Oh, and a Monkey sock but I might rip it because I don't know that I like the yarn/pattern combo.

12. Favorite colors?
I love to knit and spin all colors! My favorites come and go depending on my mood and the season. I'm loving all the fall colors...colors of the changing leaves. I have to pretend, since where I live it's hot as hades 10 months out of the year.

13. Allergies?

Smoke and dust. Looks like I'm allergic to mountain cedar too but that is really irrelevant!

14. Anything you really love, really don't like, or just need to get off your chest? No, not really. Any questions just ask but I'm pretty easy!

It's a gloomy day around these parts. Thankfully this means a slight drop in temperature but it's still humid as all get out. I should be reading for class tonight but I'm knitting on my Drops jacket and surfing the web. I might even spin for a little bit. I'm such a rebel ;p~

Because we're high-tech like that...

I don't know if you can read that name in 8-year-old scribble, but it says Claude. Yay Claude! Claudine is blogless, but she now has $10 to spend any way she wants at Dame Candle Co. Thanks to everyone who commented!

Amy, your yarn has been soaked and skeined (is that a word?). It's ready to go...

I hope you like it! Have a great weekend everyone!

Happy Monday

What? It's Tuesday? Well whatever, it feels like Monday to me.

Yes, I had school last night. A test even. But everyone else was home so I didn't have to get up at 6am and get 2 out of 3 kids on a schoolbus, and that my friends is a vacation. Because let me tell you, children can try your patience at 6am before coffee.

Take today for example. Some of what I am about to tell you is my fault. No one looked in the kids' backpacks this weekend. The conversation last night went something like this...

me: did you go through the kids' stuff?
dh: no, I thought you did.
me: that's ok, I'll do it in the morning.

yeah, I know.

Anyway, this morning I stumble out of bed and grab the backpacks while the boys are getting dressed. I stick my hand in my 6yo'd bag and straight into some mush. Ack. My mind does a quick rewind to Friday morning when he told me he wanted to bring a BANANA to school. Remember, today is actually Tuesday.

my 6yo: hey, what's that doing in there. I thought I threw it out!
me: why didn't you eat it?
my 6yo: when I got to school on Friday it was squished so I didn't want it.

Those of you who know me (in RL and on this blog) know about my aversion to bananas. You also know it's a texture thing. So sticking my hand into a brownish~blackish mashed up funky banana first thing in the morning is so not cool. He ended up going to school today without a bookbag and I spent 30 minutes cleaning off a library book and the inside of his backpack (which wound up just having to go through a cycle in the machine).

After this I needed coffee. But my kitchen was stinky!!! This is why I must give a shout out to Wendy from Dame Candle Company. A while back she sent me a couple of votives and some tarts to try out. I've got one of her 'buried treasure' tarts in my little burner on my stove right now and let me tell you it smells SO GOOD! I've always been a Yankee Candle girl but soy tarts are so much better. The burn cleaner, they smell stronger and longer, and clean up is easier. Believe me when I say the entire downstairs of my house smells divine. No more funky banana and that makes me smile. And you know what? I want you to smile, too! So....leave me a comment by midnight Thursday, October 11th, and I'll pick one lucky winner to recieve a $10 gift certificate (or a credit...not sure how she does it) for Dame Candle Company. That way you don't have to take my word for it, you can smell for yourself :)

Rosa left a comment and asked if I've been spinning. I have, a little. I just finished up some handpainted roving from Spunky Eclectic. I'm afraid I'm not sure I remember the colorway OR the fiber...I'm sure it's around here somewhere! This is an attempt at trying to spin thick 'n' thin. I think it came out quite well and once it's in a hank it will be going to my friend Amy. If she wants it of course ;) Right now I'm working on some merino/tencel that I got from MDS&W. It's pretty...blues and greens. It's spinning up really thin, so I'm thinking maybe I can get a shawl or something out of it. Depends on how much there is.

Knitting? I'm in the Secret of the Stole KAL so I'm working on that. My first time with beads and so far it's fun! I'm still working on the Garnstudio jacket but it's so hot out it's hard to work on it for any length of time. Oh, and I don't know it I told you guys but I'm making the Amelie dress from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms out of O-Wool. That O-Wool is some good stuff. Someone I know thinks it smells like curry but I don't know about that.

That about wraps it up. So...Go! Comment! Trust me, if you could smell my house right now (and what it smelled like before, ick!), you would wish your house smelled the same :)

Ok, let's face it...

There just aren't enough hours in the day for me to post everyday. Not to mention my life just isn't that exciting. I did finish Rusted Root though...

No modeled pics just yet (the baby can't work the camera) but it fits and I like it. It could stand to be a little longer so maybe one day when I'm feeling ambitious I'll add to the ribbing at the bottom. Don't hold your breath.

I also started two more projects. A jacket from Garnstudio in Berocco Ultra Alpaca. Doubled. Yes, I know where I live. It'll be more like a coat! I'd show you a progress pic but it's pretty boring right now. I'm cruising along though! The second project is the Amelie Dress for Natural Knits for Babies and Moms. I'm using o-wool and I LOVE it! I want to use it to make something for me!

I'm still plugging away on Josephine but the little needle/skinny cotton combo is taking forever!

In nursing school news...I'm still there. Ha! Seriously, I won't be rushing home at the end of this quarter to put my report card on the fridge or anything but I'm passing. Perhaps I'm aiming low but as someone with three kids under the age of 9 I'll take it!

Looking around it seems as though my sidebar could use a little housekeeping. There are a few things that are over with and a couple more things I've joined.

Around here? Busydaddy has settled into his Mr. Mom role quite nicely. After finishing up with homework and football practice (they both practice on different days, so he gets to do this M-TH), they come home for dinner and bedtime routine. The baby just goes with the flow, when he's not doing his own thing that is...

Rainy Day!

Rainy Day!
Originally uploaded by busymamaof3

Ok, so maybe my blogging will be every five days? LOL!

Actually it's been a rough weekend. DH was out of town and I had to deal with the boys, the rain, and a presentation on the Mormons. Today I have a test on the muscular and skeletal systems, and the properties of blood so I've gotta get going to study some more. I'll be back before the weekend with knitting and pictures :)

Almost Done

I'm almost done with my Rusted Root. Just need to finish the neckline. It seems like it's gonna be a little short, but I might be able to block it longer. Pics tomorrow...

I pretty much have nothing.

Day two. Yay for me, kind of boring for you (hey that rhymes). I could show you another pic of my monkey sock, but it would look just like the pic I showed you guys yesterday.

DHs cousin just got home from Iraq, so he went to spend the weekend with his family. Unfortunately this meant I had to take him to the airport @ 4.30 am with kids in tow. This also meant that since they catch the bus @ 6.45am there was no going back to bed when we got home. This resulted in exhaustion-induced shitfits this evening. The 8 yo had a shitfit because I wouldn't help him (read:do) his homework. The 6 year old had one because the 8yo wouldn't let him play with his PSP. And the 2yo? Well shitfits are his thing but he totally lost it when I told him I didn't want to watch The Muppet Show.

The ultimate shitfit was when I put everyone to bed a half hour early and poured myself a glass of Bailey's :)

I should go read about the muscular system but I'm thinking I might cast on for something new, because you know I don't have enough UFOs laying around. Thanks to Ravelry there is all kinds of new stuff I want to knit; stuff that I didn't pay any attention to until I saw FOs from actual folks.

See y'all tomorrow!

27 days...right?

I read somewhere that it takes 27 days of doing something to establish it as habit. Well my plan is to post (something) everyday for the next 27 days and hopefully get posting to become part of my routine. Because let me tell you folks, my routine has seriously changed!

I quit my job and I'm in nursing school now. It's an evening program (so that I can be with the kids during the day) and it's supposed to be geared toward the working adult. However, there is more reading required than is humanly possible. I like it though, and I'm in class M-Th.

School has started for the boys...YAY!



So now Isaiah has to make due with Phoebe...



And boy have they been busy! Isaiah somehow managed to get tangled up in my sock-in-progress. Phoebe, apparently sensing Isaiah needed rescuing, made it her business to chew through the yarn to free her partner in crime. Thank goodness it was only one spot and the yarn isn't all tangled!



The yarn is Tess Designer Supersock that I got at MDS&W. I like how it's coming out.

Oh, yeah...I'm on Ravelry too (busymamaof3). Boy can you lose a few hours poking around there, huh?

Ok, well it's time to start getting my stuff together for class and maybe try and do something with my hair :)

Seven

I have a lot of things to catch up on. Lots. Have you ever had a friend that you haven't seen or spoken to in weeks, for whatever reason? Maybe you don't live in the same city or you both had just been really busy or whatever. So now you've got catching up to do, but you have so much to catch up on you don't know where to start. So you put off that phone call or email (or blog post) until you have the time to properly catch up and now it's been a month or two and you realize you need to take baby steps if you ever want to get caught up like you should be. Like you want to be.

So here I am. I haven't blogged in a couple of months. I'm behind in my knitting, my mail, my blog reading, my spinning...all my *stuff*.

We've been doing lots of stuff to the house and have lots more planned. Not to mention working outside of the home. I've been busy, a busiermama than usual. However things are starting to settle into some seblance of a routine~the hubby and I even made up a chore chart!~and I WILL start regular blogging again. I hope everyone hasn't removed me from their bloglines. It was a rough patch is all. I'll be around with more pictures (I plan to load up my new Flickr account) and more knitting and spinning talk. For now? Baby steps.

I know there is one person who is still checking over here, because I got tagged! Calling Kahlo asked me to reveal 7 random facts about myself. Here are the rules:

The particulars - Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs the 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag 7 others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog. Here we go...

1. I never dated a guy younger than me until my husband, who is three years my junior.

2. I don't bother with manicures, but I MUST get my toes done every two weeks.

3. I've recently become addicted to those house flipping shows.

4. I'm very peticular about how the bed is made. One rule of our new 'chore chart' is that whoever gets out of bed last makes it, and that is usually the hubby. Problem is, the way he makes the bed drives me nuts! I try to look the other way but one time I couldn't help it and he caught me re~making it...LOL!

5. Crowds (like the one at MDS&W on Saturday) can sometimes make me want to choke the sh*t out of someone.

6. It takes me forever to make a decision.

7. I'm currently planning my escape from my current job and current career to go back to school full time and get a new career and job.

Let's see....I tag Susan, Amanda, Michelle, Kerry and Roz.

Prize pa...er, scratch that!

I still need addresses for a couple of winners (Daryl and Rincaro) , and a pattern choice for another (Anne-Caroline). It's my fault since I thought I had an email link up...oops!

So just email me at busymamaof3ATgmailDOTcom with your infoand I'll get you set up ASAP!

Contest winners!

Yay!

Ok, in the past I pulled names out of a hat. This time however there were so many of you I used a random # generator!

Let me first say thank you for all of the support. I'm not as upset anymore because I don't think about it. As a matter of fact, I plan to delete the post with the story. It's ugly. Maybe I'll replace it with a picture of some kittens or perhaps some puppies...where was I? Oh yeah, ugliness. It was brought to my attention that I am no saint. Well of course not, never claimed to be. However there is no excuse for what happened. Actually it was also brought to my attention that firing one employee to be fair to other employees who 'need the money' or have that job as their 'only source of income' is illegal. But whatever. Here I go again and I said I was done. Here's a pic to change the mood...


Now on to the good stuff!

Prize #1 is a hank of sock yarn from Lone Star Arts in the Burn colorway and it goes to.......Trillian42!

Prize #2 is a set of stitch markers made by Susan and they go to.....Rincaro!

Prize #3 is a pattern by the small or indie designer of your choosing and that goes to....Anne-Caroline!

Prize #4 is a skein of Fleece Artist sock yarn in the Forest colorway and it goes to.....Daryl!

here is a pic of the sock yarns...


I don't have the markers in hand yet and I'll let you guys know what pattern Anne-Caroline chooses. Thanks everyone for playing! I've always said there's nothing like a contest to bring lurkers out of the woodwork ;o) Everyone send me your addresses and I'll get your prizes in the mail.

Remember I said I'd been knitting? Well here's some progress on Wicked...

I was on a roll but fatigue and illness slowed me down. Now that I'm on the mend (though my voice is nowhere to be found)I hope to be finished before the end of the coming week.

Have a great weekend!

Contest Update!

I'm going to pick the winners on Saturday morning, so you have until midnight on Friday to comment on my last post. It doesn't have to be anything elaborate, 'hi' is ok :o)

Yes, I said 'winners'. My friend Amanda was nice enough to donate a skein of her beautiful sock yarn from her new Etsy shop, and my friend Susan is throwing in some of her PixieFish stitch markers. I also plan to give away a skein of Fleece Artist sock yarn and I will buy one winner the Indie pattern of his/her choosing. So there will be FOUR winners...YAY!

There will be pics of the prizes when I announce the winners on Saturday. Good luck!

upside~down

That's how things have been around here, but that's not always a bad thing.

I got a job. A full time one. With benefits and whatnot. Woohoo!

I sent my resume back in October. By the time they contacted me I had forgotten about it. It all happened really fast. I interviewed and was offered the position the same day. I was able to secure after~school and daycare the next day. I had a week for things like last minute appts and stuff before I started yesterday. It's been an adjustment for everyone. I now get up at 5 and DH gets the kids ready, making sure everyone is where they need to be on time. The boys LOVE the after~school program but Isaiah is unsure about daycare. I think the biggest adjustment is for him and me since we are used to being home together all day. But he's doing well and making new friends.

Another thing that has turned my life upside down is carpal tunnel. I found out that's what's been making my fingers numb and cold, and it's imposssible to spin. I can still knit though, and have been knitting a lot.

I wanted to show you some progress pics and some new pics of the kids today but something happened that (once again) kinda turned everything upside~down. Sometimes it's really amazing how shitty people can be, and even more amazing are the shitty excuses these shitty people can make to try and explain away their behavior. So my head hurts and I can't even begin to think about putting together a proper post. It's just that I looked at how long it's been since I posted and wanted to give a teeny update. It's been a rough month (the baby was sick) and a busy month (DH and I celebrated 10 years of marital bliss(!)on the 15th and the boys have a joint BDay party on Saturday)so I haven't been around as much as I'd like. Thing will change once we all get settled.

Either tomorrow or Friday I will be back with a story. A story of ridiculously shitty behavior and how some people feel like it's ok to treat others like crap because they pretend to not know any better. A story of why my head hurts.

I'll also have some knitting and maybe a little more on my job :o)

Am I blue?

Today is the first day of Project Spectrum v2. Ok, technically it was yesterday but I'm still up so in my mind it's still February 1st.

I've got a couple of things in honor of the color blue. Blue is a pretty important color around here. I'm sure I have lots of blue stuff I can take pictures of, I definitely have lots of blue yarn. And fiber. Wanna see what I did with some of my blue fiber?



Sorry the picture is a little blurry. It's the third yarn I ever spun up on my wheel. It's a merino/silk blend. I was able to get it pretty thin and I'm very happy with it. So happy, a bought more of the merino/silk in a couple different colors. I think this skein might be a gift for someone :o)

Here's my first* wheel spun yarn...



It's BFL from The Spunky Eclectic plyed with commercial mohair. It's the hugest.skein.ever. I have no idea how many yards it is and no idea what I'm going to do with it.

My second ever wheel spun yarn is orange merino (and still on the bobbin) but since this month is all about blue/gray/white it'll have to wait for it's turn in the spotlight.

*technically I spun about a quarter of an ounce of white corriedale before I did this but I'm not counting that. You can see it on my wheel a few posts back.

I'm also knitting a pair of green socks (Go with the Flow...IK summer '05) in CTH for Lolly's green sock KAL...



Since that picture I've gotten a little further on the leg and traded out the plastic needles for Crystal Palace bamboos.

Thanks for the nice comments about my new design. I've cleaned up the sidebar a bit, joined a few new KALs and opened a Flickr account. I've still got some work to do, like figuring out my some of my rings look all funky. Right now I'm just happy that most of what I want is in place.

In knitting news I've got a Central Park Hoodie, a Manly Sweater, two pairs of socks and a shawl on the needles. The shawl is a simple rib, for DHs grandmother who had to have heart surgery. I need to get it done and in the mail ASAP. It's moving along though since it's on us15s!

Almost forgot...there's two baby sweaters languishing as well, each one waiting for a sleeve.

That's not too bad, right?

New and 'improved' blogger

Sorry for the lack of posts as of late. I've been spending some time trying to improve the blog. I've been trying since November.

First I tried to go with a separate domain, which was proving to be a real PITA. I finally got it figured out yesterday after a couple of months of trying and now I find out that you have to be some kind of high~tech computer programmer to import your new (and improved) blogger posts to wordpress.

So I thought maybe going with the flow and staying with blogger was the answer. Well customizing a new template is making me cry in frustration. It took forever to get the header situated, but now the sidebar won't cooperate. Bloggers 'widget' are hampering me from just importing all the codes for my sidebar buttons and whatnot, but if I revert back to the 'old blogger' template I lose the ability to have categories. Categories is one of the reasons I went looking for another host.

The ideal situation would be to stay here, since now I can have my domain name point here, and my rings and KALs all point here. Not to mention it's free. Has anyone had success with this new platform?

I have not knit in two days messing around with this crap. I did dye some roving though. I'll have pics later this week because right now I have to step away from the computer.

A winter blast!!

That's what the news is saying. Welcome to southern TX winter I suppose. I don't know, but where I'm from 30 degree temps and a little freezing rain don't shut the city down. Not only are the boys home from school, but the hubby is at Blockbuster right now picking out some movies since the base was shut down as well.

All this whoopla is hampering my blog updates. The weather has been too crappy to get any good pics of what I've been up to. Not to mention how hard it is to take pictures of yarn and fiber when everyone is home.

I've been knitting. I finally finished my Madder Ribbed socks out of the Claudia's Handpaints yarn. I've started a pair for DH...the Gentleman's Plain Socks out of Vintage Socks using Mountain Colors Bearfoot. I have some other stuff going on too, and some (sort~of) knitting resolutions.

I've been spinning. I *heart* my wheel and spinning is so.much.fun! I've got lots to play with in loads of colors from The Spunky Eclectic, and I'm waiting on an order from Crown Mountain Farms. I still don't really have any idea about ratios and whatnot, but the stuff I'm producing looks like yarn so I'm happy. Maybe I should get a book.

I do have a picture for you all, though not fiber related.

How does this happen, really? After this picture was taken I found another sock~a black one. Maybe the dryer heard me bitching about laundry duty and decided to teach me a lesson?

weirdness

So tomorrow turned into next year but here it is!

1. I won't eat bananas. Not because I don't like the taste, but because I can't stand the texture of them. I love banana bread and muffins and stuff just not actual bananas. I don't even like unpeeling them for the baby.

2. I can't stand to eat meat off of a bone. Mostly chicken but spareribs are on my list too. I can do pork chops but prefer boneless. Boneless buffalo wing are the best.thing.ever.

3. I prefer to use a long tail cast on when I knit. Before you say 'wait, that's not weird'...the length of my tail tells me how well my project is going to go. If it's way too long I know in my heart I will (at some point) have to rip back and start over. If the length is just right it'll be smooth sailing! Luckily the more I knit the better I get at estimating how much yarn I'll need for casting on. Not to mention the more you knit the less (usually) you have to rip back anyways.

4. I cannot stand to have wet socks. Like of someone drips water on the floor in the kitchen and I walk through it? drives me nuts.

5. I would rather scrub a toilet than do laundry. Sorting then folding and putting away the family's clothing (and sheets and towels and whateverthehellelse) is my most hated household chore.

6. I'm a procrastinator and a perfectionist. Sometimes if I know I don't have the time to do something perfect I won't do it at all. But then I think about how it needs to be done and it'll hang over my head and I'll worry about it.

7. I watched both seasons of Flavor of Love, and I fully intend to watch I Love New York when it starts Monday. I'm pretty selective when it comes to my trash TV though. I don't care for stuff like The Bachelor, The Real World, Big Brother or Survivor, but I'll watch other crappage like Bridezilla, My Super Sweet 16, True Life and Dog the Bounty Hunter (hi Kim!).

How many was I supposed to have? I think it was seven.

I need to show you all some pictures but I haven't taken any yet! I've been doing laundry all day. Oh yeah, and watched Snakes on a Plane. So next time I'll tell all about my plans for 2007, and show y'all what I've been working on.