Apricots, Discounts and Lots of Love

The Mister loves apricots. So when Celtic Queen started talking about how it just isn't a holiday without Apricot Pie, well, I knew that the Mister would need to be having pie for dessert, soon. That was last Friday at Knitting, by Sunday I had soaked the apricots and whipped up a hunkaheaven. Neither the Mister nor his mother had ever had apricot pie before, so by all accounts it was the Best Apricot Pie that any of us had ever had.I did sprinkle the crust with the 'secret recipe' sugar and cinnamon, just because there was no spice in the filling. Thanks CQ.



I guess the dollar store really is a discount store. GMa picked up puzzles for the boys. Here Eldest is showing off his 99 piece puzzle. What do you expect for a buck? All 100 pieces?!?! At least it was just a bit of the Atlantic missing.















And then there is lots of love.
Yes, that is Eldest sporting Mamalove in the form of a sweater vest in school-color-purple (grape wool-ease.)
He likes it and I am swelling with love.

As for INBA, that is not bedhead. He and Eldest spent a silly amount of time in front of the bathroom mirror 'fixing' their hair. INBA thought his looked 'cool.' Thank goodness he isn't aware of what gel can do for a guy.

Whaddaya know?

I believe that this was refered to as random things that you don't need to know about me. How much fun is that. TMI?
1.FIRST NAME? Heather
2.WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?Supposedly that was a little girl in a Tide commercial gardening with her grandpa. This struck them because my grandpa was quite the gardener. Oh, and he died 2 months before I was born... on his birthday.
3.WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY?Um, Friday. I am one of those annoying people that cry about everything... happy, sad, sappy, angry, whatever. So annoying.
4.DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? It is ok, so I don't dislike it.
5.WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? I don't really eat lunch meat very often, but I suppose it would have to be shaved ham these days.
6.IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?Yes, I am a good friend.
7.DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL?You’re reading it.
8.DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?Yes.
9.WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Maybe.
10.WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?Quaker Oatmeal Squares
11.DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? I like clogs, so not really an option... but I think I untie my tennies when I take them off at the gym... but then, it tells how long since I have been to the gym when I cannot be definate.
12.DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Nope, pretty wimpy.
13.WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR?Chocolate.
14.SHOE SIZE?8.5
15.RED OR PINK?Definitely red.
16.WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?Hyper self aware.
17.WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?Godmom Patti.
18.DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU?Post your own answers on your blog and make a comment here!
19.WHAT COLOR PANTS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?olive green pants with a celery green shirt under a red corduroy jacket, handknit socks (sparkly disco ones) and red slippers.
20.LAST THING YOU ATE?pretzels and nutella.
21.WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?the TV is on and I can hear the spin cycle of the wash machine.
22.IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?Green.
21.FAVORITE SMELL?Oranges.
22.WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?My Mother.
23.THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO?The way they move. Although, I think it was the way the Mister stands... and he is gorgeous in tails.
24.DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON YOU STOLE THIS FROM?Yes.
25.FAVORITE DRINK? Diet Pepsi and Pinot Noir.
26.FAVORITE SPORT?I like baseball... Go Tigers!
27.EYE COLOR?Blue.
28.HAT SIZE?I dunno, but I think my head is a bit large... too much hair and too smart :)
29.DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No need.
30.FAVORITE FOOD? chocolate...it is its own food group, right?
31.SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? I don't watch scary movies.
32.SUMMER OR WINTER? Endless summer... sunny and 72.
33.HUGS OR KISSES?passionate kisses.
34.FAVORITE DESSERT? heartstopping chocolate cake
35.WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING?Introduction to the Devout Life, by St. Frances De Sales. I read a lot of magazines, too.
36.WHAT’S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?N/A
37.WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV?Watched Radio on DVD.
38.FAVORITE SOUNDS?Well, I have to say the quiet that comes when the Mister and the boys are fast asleep. But this keeps me up late enjoying it.
39.ROLLING STONE OR BEATLES?Beatles.
40.THE FARTHEST YOU’VE BEEN FROM HOME? Italy
41.WHAT’S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? I am a good mother
42.WHERE WERE YOU BORN?Michigan
43.WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?I stole it from pepperknit.

How Bad

See there? I was going to be better about posting. Ugly week. No excuse.

Anyway, I have been knitting my little heart out on pea pod. It just needs to have its sleeves sewn in. I took it to knittin last night, just nothing to pin it together. So it sits awaiting attention. I will have it to show, soon.

I cast on The Mister's Blue Sweater. That is a lot of stitches. And he is a skinny guy. And he has long arms. It may take a while. Maybe it will be done for his BDAY in January. I mean really, it has taken me how long to knit an INFANT's sweater?

I will be more inspired, maybe Monday.

Saturday Morning

Falling, Falling, Falling

This is how you get the boys to 'help' rake leaves. It was 42 degrees but sunny. Which is ok, because there are ones we love that were dumped upon with snow. It is all relative.

Pea Pod

I didn't think to take a picture. But, I did finish the lace panel of the right front, so I think that I am going to move more swiftly on the rest... it is that whole chart and paying close attention thing that I am not so quick with. The yarn is delicious. It is the Rowan Cashsoft DK in Lime. (As in Green.) It is a merino, microfibre and cashmere blend. Yum.

I Don't Need to be Fast

But sometimes it just doesn't seem fair that other people are so fast. Not that I want to be
anything like Wendy, I am a bit green of her completed in two days purple pea pod. I will refrain from whining about all the demands on my time and my inability to think coherently after 8pm and just plug along on my green with envy pea pod. It just has to be done by November or maybe the end of... the little boy is due the 19th...






And I don't like this sock yarn. Or maybe I don't like cotton blend sock yarn (oh, the maligned jaywalker.) Or maybe I don't like how my gauge is smaller once working on a sock than when I swatch. I know that this skein had a lot of burps. And I don't care for the colorway, it seems dingy to me. And it is a chevron pattern from my beloved Sensational Knitted Socks book by Charlene Schurch, that just didn't do what I expected. I am bummed and it is too small for me, so unless I can think of someone with a 8 years to small woman size foot, I am not going to mess with this. Of course, the Mister couldn't see why I was even bothering to finish the one in the first place. Well, I don't like unfinished objects and it bugs me that I spent so much time on it to rip it all the way back and toss the lot into the bottom of the odds box. At least this way, if I find someone I want to do the other for, I can... and only curse half as much.

This is Eldest's last chance for my knitting for a long time if he refuses it. My camera doesn't like purple, for some reason. It is crazy royal purple and it is going to be a sweater vest. It also happens to be school color purple. He will be dashing in it, if he agrees to wear it. So far he has not said no, he picked the skeins out himself. But enthusiastic, he is not. I still love him. I promise.




Ok, cross your fingers for me... the MIL is moving in tomorrow. She is only going to be here until her house is built... so maybe you should cross your fingers for the homebuilder. Don't cry for me, the Mister and I get to go out to dinner with friends on Saturday to celebrate our anniversaries (ours 10-10, theirs 10-12, oh, that was today!) The boys are excited to have a sleep over with GMA, they have been bugging her for that since we moved here, and maybe the Mister and I can steal a little extra us time. I hate to call it a built in babysitter... that would be a dream and it is just my MIL, after all.

Take this Attitude and....

Well, I guess I am going to have to break down and take a computer class. Obviously technology is eclipsing me despite my denial of such an event. I am a slave to my template and automatic popups. I so annoy myself. It is time to give in.

Laurie emailed me pictures from the farm so that "I had no excuse not to blog." Uh, my kids aren't good enough for your blog? huh? Well, it makes no difference because my email provider will only let me have them as a webpage, so I dunno. I suppose if I thought about it (ask the Mister to fix it for me) I might get it figured out. Oh, the effort that life demands.

A suggestion was made on her blog, ok, is fantasized about regularly at the BN Friday knitting, of a yarn shop career. I think it should be a yarn shop with attitude. And I do not mean the "nobody likes green" attitude. I mean, "quit your sissy whining and step away from the bulky wool. Socks ARE NOT hard. They have been knit for HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS of years by people much less 'educated' than yourself." But it is like the lady that asked me, as I sat in the sunshine, waiting for INBA to be done with preschool, knitting a sock, "can you knit anything?!" To which my reply was, "Um, yeah. I can do anything that I decide to try." Attitude, people, attitude is everything.

Ignore the Inconvenient

At least that is what I was going to do. I haven't posted in 2 whole weeks? Ah, skip it. But then, NO! There are actually pictures. I had been planning to post, honest, I even have a little list on a scratch pad. Granted, I had been planning for so long, I don't know what a couple of those scratches mean. I still think that my memory is so good that I won't forget anything, especially something funny. Ha.

Well, let's get on with it, since you obviously don't believe that I have done anything but sleep for two weeks.

There are no pictures for yesterday. The boys and I met up with Laurie and her family at Trax Farm for the Family Fall Festival, or something like that. Laurie had a camera and looked to be taking some nice pictures, maybe she will post them for your pleasure. We were soundly defeated by the corn maze. We had to be led out by some small child who climbed between the stalks to find his way. Probably if we had listened to Laurie's Older Son- he was yelling "LEFT," I don't know how we ignored him- we may have found our way out without the shame... either way, it was an adventure.

Let's step back in time...





A picture of the boys from a week or so ago... notice that INBA is wearing a sweater that I made for Eldest and he refuses to wear. He was really smug when I noticed that INBA was wearing it, like he had pulled one over on him... Huh, huh, INBA is wearing that sweater, huh, huh.

Fine, be that way. The Mister says that I cannot love the younger one more because he wears my knitting. Besides he is still 4. He has his own issues.








Speaking of issues, INBA has very delicate toes. He cannot stand socks and the seams. Oh, what a fight to get the kid back into shoes for the winter. So, after a million dollars and the most seamless socks one can find commercially (which are not seamless, thanks for nothing stride rite) I made the boy a pair of socks. See, I took a picture when I started because I planned to post...

But here they are finished. I didn't pull ahead in the skein to match the stripes because I wasn't sure that I could get both socks out of one skein (knit picks Parade.) But I did, and could have matched the stripes and been ok. I do, however have another skein- purchased with the intention of a pair for myself- so I am intending to make another pair to match the first and then have 2 pairs of matched stipes... follow?



ok, it looks like I have extra pictures that show up in the post but not in my working area. Sorry.

Anyway, this morning INBA refused the "seamless" socks in lieu of mommy-made socks. But I don't love him anymore than I would have. I promise.








And there is Pea Pod. I really like knitting lace, I just cannot do it while tired or when I have a headache. So, progress is slow since I do my knitting in the evening after the world has sucked almost every last drop of energy from my bones.
I have gotten 3 of the buttons knit on, so it will get done. I suppose I will just have to give myself permission to knit during the day. It is a gift with a deadline, after all, not just for my pleasure -which I am certainly not entitled to during the day. :)










What Has the Mister Been Up To?
Well, he fixed our front porch.
Several of the bricks along the front and side were about to fall off. Also, many in the middle had the mortar crumbling around them. Every time I swept it I took more out. So he made it as good as new. How unbearably useful my Mister is!!







Then the Mister took the boys to Alcosan's Open House.
Yes, that Alcosan... Allegheny County Sanitary Authority- the waste water treatment plant.
They all really enjoyed it.
I had a couple hours to myself which I enjoyed as well.

Anyway, these are the pictures the Mister took.
The boys doing Mad Science.
The boys coloring.




No pictures of the 100ft deep pit that all the waste water flows into, no picture of the screens, no pictures of the river, nothing. I love my boys as much as he does, but geesh. At least he remembered to take the camera, which is better than I do most of the time. So, good job, Mister.

This is his favorite favor from the open house. Frankie the Fish on a Bethel Bakery Cookie. He made a point of taking this picture as soon as they got home.

Now, I solemnly promise to be better about my posting.
Peace.