Friday, June 30, 2006

Yikes!


C got her second bee sting yesterday. Poor thing flew into her sandal and tried to resist the impending doom. Since that's exactly what happened with her first sting, you can bet she will no longer be wearing sandals in the backyard bee haven. Mark hasn't sprayed the yard with chemicals for the last two years (much to my delight) so we would be more accurate calling it a clover field than a lawn.
C screamed like a banshee for about ten minutes. I applied my vinegar/baking soda paste but it didn't seem to help. Half an hour later she said that it still hurt as much as ever. (OK, since she was no longer splitting my eardrums, I'm sure it was SOMEWHAT better :~) ) But when by bedtime, she was talking about needing to throw up and having a bad headache AND she had a fever, I got a bit concerned. Apparently she is having a toxic reaction to the bee venom. To ONE sting! The bottom and side of her foot is swollen, slightly red to purple, and is "really, really itchy and hurting". Needless to say, she did not sleep well. This AM she made a face when I picked her up-so, we can add general tenderness to the list as well.
Who knew?!? Well, however uncomfortable it is, it's certainly better than being allergic!

Sunday, June 25, 2006

slump!

I'm having a bit of a blogger slump. I can't come up with a worthy entry. I'm uninspired. I've been tremendously busy this week and all my creative energy is being diverted into the yard/house. SO, not a very thrilling blog entry today!
I finished carding up the Romney and Romney/mohair-take a look...



The older three dc are in VBS this week so I've been enjoying one on one time with B and working in the yard in the mornings. Getting lots done! Two more mornings should just about get my list done-I'll still have things I want to do-but nothing left that can be done w/o spending $. I'm planning to finish up the boys' shirts this week and then...another sundress! It's been hot enough lately!

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

No time...

I'm scrambling madly to get all the carding done in time. Here's how much I have done...




Here's how much is waiting....


I have until Thursday night. This would be nothing except for the four little people I spend most of my day with(they need a mother, you know. Carder deadlines mean nothing to them)
This morning after breakfast I hit full panic mode.
BYE!

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Everything else

On Tuesday, we scrambled madly to gather and pack all our borrowed camping gear into our minivan.
I did take a little break in the evening to run over to the LYS to pick up a Louet Roving carder from an extremely generous guild member. (Hi Linda!) She's letting me borrow it in exchange for some homemade bread. Now that is bartering at its finest. My next post will display how this little wonder is transforming portions of my stash.

SO, we embarked on our very first camping trip to a somewhat local lake/state park. Mark and I spent no less than two hours-could've been longer, actually-to put up the Enormous Tent. The thing sleeps 7 and has an attached screened porch for bug-free dining. I was stunned at the size of that thing. And the fact that there were no instructions for putting it all together. Here's what B did while we were working on it.


Actually, this is what the 3 younger dc did 90% of the time we were at the campsite. The whole area was covered in a peculiar mixture of what appeared to be sand, ash, and some sort of fine grit. Every time one of the children poured it from one container to another, approximately one third of the stuff hovered magically in the air for about 2 minutes . Those who have had small children will be able to guess how often this was. (For anyone wondering about the other 10%-that was divided between sleeping and eating)

Sugar used the daylight hours for all her resting time...She woofed and whined nervously at all the strange night time noises. The marauding opossums with their weird hissing totally freaked her out. Mark got a little aggravated with her excessive vigilance, but I was very pleased-thought she did a great job!

The kids loved the beach area and would've stayed all day and burned to a crisp if we had permitted it. We went fishing a couple of times, hiked a smallish nature trail suitable for young fry and played on the playground. In all, we stayed two months, I mean, days before heading home. I joked with Mark that the smile I gave him as we entered our driveway was the first sincer one he'd seen the entire time. Truthfully, we probably will wait a couple of years before our next camping adventure. The younger two were a bit TOO young and their recognition of parental authority went right out the window as we pulled into the campsite. As one of my college professors used to say, "it's just hot water on the teabag". Camping was a little too much hot water for my little "tea bags" although they thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it. And Mark and I got a good idea of what we need to work on :~)

Sadly, blogger is ignoring my attempts to add the other two photos to this post so...this will have to do until it gets over its little funk. I'll try to add them later.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Day 1, part 2


After our extensive tramp through the house and grounds, we went to dinner at the Grove Park Inn. Now this whole day was a totally uncharacteristic splurge for us. After 10+ yrs of marriage, I've come to the realization that if my dh has one flaw it's that he likes to spoil us a bit too much ;~)
Now, our family budget will not allow this as often as he likes, but when he plans things-he goes all out.
So, we ate like kings at the Sunset Terrace. The food was fabulous. We opted out of dessert, however, and stopped at Hardee's for chocolate malts on the way home. Just to regain our equilibrium!
I did have the foresight to pack my knitting bag for the hours long trip. So did I finish the sock as I had intended? Well, no. How much knitting did I get done? Um, none. What happened there? 'Cause I sure don't know!

I'll document the next phase of our vacation tomorrow.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Vacation recap-pt. 1

OK, I'll keep the words to a minimum and let the pictures do the talking for me!
Monday Mark and I went to the Biltmore Estate. Fantastic, isn't it?!?

We went through the Winery and shop...and bought nothing but postcards for the dc!


I was pretty happy about this 'cause when I went to Bi-Lo to do the weekly shopping-they had Biltmore's White Zinfandel for WAY less.

Then we went to the Farm Garden and saw some Dorset crosses...


and some very friendly Angora yearlings...


After that, it was on to the kitchen garden-check out those apples and pears!


After that little tour, even Mark was saying things about getting a bit of land. And he's a dyed-in-the-wool city slicker. For my part, I'll just say there was GOBS of inspiration in that section and leave it at that.

More to come tomorrow!!!

Friday, June 02, 2006

And on it goes...

It's been sewing, sewing and more sewing. And I don't even have a finished shirt to show for it. These little heirloom shirts with their adorable piped cuffs are trying to wreck what remains of my sanity, so I took a little break today and cut out a sundress for me. I need to finish the armholes with bias tape and hem the bottom and I'm done! Maybe I'll stay up late tonight and make it a one-day wonder. I had planned to have it done by Monday so that I could wear it on our trip to Biltmore (yes, a little one on one time with dh-how will we manage to converse with no interruptions?!?) so I'm way ahead of that game. Almost makes up for the shirts. Actually, nothing could.

OK, I'm done now.


Last night in a desperate effort to regain some balance, I dug through the stash and found some Border Leicester and Mohair. (Don't worry-I split up that batch into two pots, 'k? There was plenty of room, trust me)



I dropped a good amount into my dyepots and threw in some Easter Egg tabs.

This next one is simply NOT as green as the pic-don't know what happened there...probably the shirts shifted their attack to the camera...



Neat, huh?! ?Nothing like a little color to get your smile back in place!