Lily Noelle

I am now the grandmother of two darling little girls. Lily Noelle is a day old and just as gorgeous as can be. I came on Thursday to be with Carrie and to help with Abby. I am on vacation and will be here for a week. I am looking forward to having fun with Abby, bonding with Lily and helping out Matt and Carrie for this first week of their new life.

I hope to blog on a regular basis while here. Of course, my computer goes everywhere with me.

There is nothing quite the same as holding a brand new baby. It is absolutely beyond description.

CPSIA Blog In Day

Well, in surfing my blogs today, it appears that an issue has arisen regarding the lead in items which come into contact. First of all, I want to say that we certainly need to protect our children, however in reading these blogs, things do seem to be out of hand. The impact is to handmade items, as I understand it.

I will just direct your attention and let you make your own judgement. Following are the blogs where the issue is defined and your help is asked. Be sure to find the 1/28 entry.



http://sarahjanestudios.com/blog/
http://www.allsorts.typepad.com/

Bathroom Bond Time

Sounds like a scary title, huh? Actually I have a really cute story to share. I was laying in bed this morning waiting to get up and get ready for work. Leon was already up and in the shower and I am literally never awake when he is getting ready. But for some reason, I was awake this morning. Those of you who have cats know that they start moving around when we do in the morning, which includes walking over our lumps in the bed, breathing in our faces, walking from the bed onto the bedside tables and generally being a pain in the you-know-what. So I am laying there, with my eyes still closed, but I can feel them doing the morning routine.

I heard Max jump off the bed and head into the bathroom. Our bathroom door closes, but does not latch, (I really do need to see about getting that fixed). So he knows that he can just lean into the door, it will open and he can get into the bathroom with Leon. All of a sudden, I heard Leon's voice saying "Hey buddy, where have you been. I'm almost done now." It was so sweet. Apparently every morning, while I am Zzzz-ing, Max and Leon are bonding. Max loves the heat of the bathroom, when someone is showering and sometimes he comes in with me, but he and Leon have a routine.

Knitting like crazy - what's on the needles

I am having so much fun knitting and have been learning so much. I started about 6 months ago, having not knitted since I was a pre- teenager. I have always crocheted, but knitting is really pretty new. Since I started, I have learned to knit in the round, (that means juggling 5 needles at one time in order to knit something round without a seam). That is really pretty amazing, for me! I have experimented with cables, although I have not made anything. That is really cool and I am waiting for just the right pattern. I think the key thing is finding small projects, so that I don't start something and then not feel like finished it. The perfect project for knitting in the round is a baby cap. I have made 4 caps, but they just weren't quite right, but I just finished the fifth one and I think that I finally have it right. So the four that I have finished will be donated and this one will go to the new little person in my family. I just hope that it fits. I hope that doesn't sound bad to donate the ones that I am not happy with. I actually plan to make some more to donate. By the way, if you knit and want to donate baby hats for newborns, I can get you the address. It is a great program!
Having finished the hat(s), I am now working on a neck warmer. These are quite the fashion statement right now and they are really pretty easy and have great patterns. They just go around your neck under your coat like a scarf. This one will have buttons on it and will button around the neck. Any takers? I think it will be done in a couple of weeks. Here is a picture of mine and a picture of the one on the pattern. Can you tell which is which? Of course you can, I still need lots of practice. Mine is on the second one. Plus I have a ways to go yet.

pictures of doll clothes

Okay, I finished up the doll clothes and wanted to share. I think adjustments to the patterns will be necessary, but am anxious to get busy.

Doll clothes for Abby

I have found a way to make a dent in my fabric stash and please a very special little girl, all at the same time. Remember the doll clothes we used to play with when we were little. Well, I am planning to make some. Actually I have already made two things, but am unsure about the size. I measured the dolls, when I was at Carries last time, but am making my own patterns so, the measurements that I got are so irrelevant that I really need to back off until I see the dolls again. But, I am excited and am carefully following instructions from the 'new mother' that Abby has to be able to put them on and take them off by herself. (which means velcro and elastic). I am enjoying thinking of ideas and deciding which fabrics Abby would like. So far, I have made a pair of jeans and a pajama sac. I am going to wait to make any more until I test these on the baby (oh, her name is Annie). I think it will be fun for her to dress her doll while Carrie is dressing the new baby. I may add pictures of my creations later today, but here is what Annie looks like.

Puzzle time

First of all, I need to pat myself on the back for a minute. I changed the background all by myself with just one phone call to Lissy to confirm something that I already knew.. I really do love black and white and thought this one was nice for a change. What do you think? Well it is a three day weekend for both Leon and I and we are taking it easy. He is playing his WII Indiana Jones game and I, of course, am surfing the net and catching up on my posting. It is cold cold cold here, although it is better today. I have often said that I could live in Alaska and I still maintain that is true, because it was surely colder here than in Anchorage yesterday. I actually am a bit of a weather bug and do keep track of the Anchorage temperatures.

This is the one time of year when I get an urge to do a jigsaw puzzle. I do one about once a year and it is almost always in January. Christmas hustle bustle is over and I just feel like staying in and being cozy, so that is when I feel like doing a puzzle. My sister and I used to do puzzles in the winter time and I think that is where I picked up the bug for it. So I picked up two puzzles a couple of weeks ago and started on one of them. It is a puzzle of a Rockwell print and I just think the Rockwell paintings are so homey anyhow. Middle America and all that, so I tried that one first. I started it about two weeks ago and it is not together yet, although some of it is pretty complete. Now, mind you, I have done a puzzle or two in my life, but this one is a bugger, excuse the crass language. Believe me, Sandi will attest to our puzzle skills. I have had whole sections together and everything looked perfect, from the way the picture looks to the puzzle pieces fitting together and had to tear it all apart and re-do it. It is still not right because one side is longer than the other and I can't imagine where the problem is. So the end of the story is --- this is not fun anymore and I am going to tear it apart. There is a certain amount of pride that I have to swallow to do it, but life is too darn short to agonize over a darn puzzle. Plus I have another one that I am going to start, and it is a different brand altogether, so it is bound to be better. I cannot imagine that I have lost my touch and by the way " I think there is a piece missing" --- Sound familiar, Sandi????

So I will leave you with the extent of what I got accomplished. Between Max (that's my cat) thinking he was helping me do the puzzle and the inferior workmanship of the producer, I just didn't have a chance. Okay maybe I had a chance, just not the will.

January thoughts

Hello to everyone. I have truly neglected my blog lately, but the new year is here and I have lots of stuff that I am wanting to do. So I wanted to let you all know where I was and what's going on. Resolutions become boring, but the new year is always a time to re-assess where we are at and remind ourselves of where we are going and what new paths we might wish to take. With that said, I have two new things that I will be working on this year, well really three, I guess. First of all the indirect thing is that later this month, I will be helping to welcome a beautiful new baby girl into the family. I am looking forward to it and with the birth of my second grandchild, family dynamics will change and everyone will sort of settle into a new order. Change is a good thing and our family has done a fair amount of it lately. In the past year, we have welcomed Chad into our family, on an official basis. We have considered him family for quite a while now, and are so happy to have him here. Leon has closed a business and we have settled into the 8 to 5 routine that so many people live. Not a change for me, but a substantial change for Leon. It has been a year of some difficult times and some very joyous times. All in all, I am very grateful for everything I have and all the people in my life. I am truly blessed and consider the hard times as character building experiences. What is the saying, "into each life a little rain must fall". Also it certainly helps to be able to look back and assess your life, rather than trying to make sense of everything as it happens.

One of the new things that I will be doing this year. First of all, in my attempt to become more active in our church, I am starting a new group called "Between the Lines". It is a Christian fiction book club. We will be meeting once a month and my first meeting is next Tuesday (please bow your head right now and say a prayer for me). I am a bit nervous, but also excited and hopeful that it will work. My vision is to create a group that runs itself, is close-knit and enjoys gentle or christian fiction books. I would like to meet in a home environment or a 'coffee house' place - someplace comfortable and easy. If anyone has suggestions for books, let me know, although the more I explore, the more I find that there is a lot of stuff out there.

The second thing that I will be working on is a change or addition to my business training. In looking toward the future, it is clear that retirement is not too far away. I do not think it would be healthy for me to totally retire, although I certainly look forward to cutting my hours. Anyhow, I am exploring the possibility of going into an accounting field (I know, boring!), to transition into. I really do enjoy working with numbers and making things balance. My manager has helped me to network with two accountants outside the bank and there are 2 accountants that work as underwriters at the credit center. It is a new skill and I will need more training, so all of that is open for me to explore. Imagine my retirement with a little accounting business on the side. Pretty cool, eh. My options are open and I have lots of ideas about how to proceed. I'll check back with you next January and let you know how I did.

Regarding the picture. I found this picture on a "Stumble" site and fell in love with it. Also, I know my background is still Christmasy, but the site I use for my backgrounds is down temporarily, so I will not be able to change it until it comes back up.