visually stunning

we are having an old fashioned Minnesota Winter.


remember when you were little and you would hear the old folks talk about "In my day..."
Tim and I find ourselves doing that with our kids. wow. I never thought I would ever... but one thing we often recall and talk about with our kids is Winter.
In my day there was so much more snow. I remember my mom telling me about how back in her day there was even MORE snow than what was normal for me.
in the last 20 years (ugh) there has been decidedly less snowfall around here. however, this winter has been very familiar to me... just like the winters of my youth.

snow is so pretty, but it does get really boring really fast. once in a while we get a little bit warmer day and it makes the perfect fog conditions. I love love love those days. it is awful for driving, but it makes up for it in the stunning frost that is left all over the trees and anything that may be holding on to the tiniest bit of heat.
totally gorgeous.

Taxes have been sent

I'm so excited about this. I honestly thought I'd be waiting for at least another week to be able to do them. But we got our W2s earlier than I had anticipated and because we are poor and don't have any loans on anything but our house, and we don't spend enough money on school supplies and donate enough money to to itemize all we needed was the mortgage tax form and W2 forms and off we go.

I'm so relieved. there have been plenty of things that we've just put off because of money. It's a sacrifice we all make to have me readily available and home for the kids (a different story once Ronan starts school.)
so the "shopping" list begins.

with these Taxes I am going to get a new couch... one that doesn't suck you down to the floor because the kids have destroyed the springs.
Timothy will be getting new glasses
the Car is getting new tires and a new thermostat
and the Dentist is going to become a rich man :)


oh, and I just thought of this...

I am packing my cupboards and freezer to bursting



oooo
and a new vacuum would be grand

I feel so dumb

and boy do I feel like I have egg on my face.

I do know the person who linked over and she had a legitimate reason... not only that but she did let me know about it

now I have no excuses like being pregnant or sleep deprivation to blame my absentmindedness on. and what's worse is she had just told me she had linked over a couple of days ago, so the information really shouldn't have slipped my mind by then.

I feel a fool, and Krista, I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable by my post, I really feel the need to apologize.

Everyone, I honestly don't mind if you share links with your friends I would just like to know that you are. and in the future I will do better at remembering that you told me you were going to do it.

:(
I'm so ashamed

how did you get here?

I was just wondering...

I have posted a link here and there on MY facebook to this blog, but lately I've noticed that there are some visitors coming in to a specific post on my blog from facebook that I did not link directly to.
the question now arises... who is posting links to my blog on facebook?

I've been getting hits from parts of Canada (howie... if it's you, okay. but I have more yarn on my yarny blog), Oregon, and parts of California (where I don't know people) is kind of making me wonder

I mean it's one thing if I link over to the goings on of my family, but it's just kind of weird that someone I don't know is saying hey everyone on my facebook friends list, read this.
most stuff on here isn't highly personal, but it's mine to share... know what I mean.

so if you are sharing links on facebook, would you at least let me know about it? that way I can know where the traffic is coming from and go from there.

Mother Bird by Emma

a while back Emma wrote a book. she illustrated it and wrote the words and insisted that she should do it herself. she did a terrific job especially since she was only 6 at the time

a few months ago she wrote another one.
again, I'll type it up....

Mother Bird

by Emma McGinnis
November 18, 2010

Once there was a mother bird.
She had a little egg.

She saw another little bird.
The bird had white, tan, and brown. [feathers]

She liked the other little bird.
He was a very nice bird.

One of the little birds went to get food.
The little bird caught a blue bug and went to the nest.

The little bird came back to the nest.
The little bird was surprised!

The little egg hatched.
It is not an egg anymore, it is a baby bird!

The other bird went to get food, too.
The bird saw a very nice cat.

The bird caught a worm.
The bird knows the worm will be good for the baby bird.

The bird came back to the nest.
At the nest there was star bugs, and a green bug.

The baby bird was old enough to fly.
It was old enough to live on it's own.

And they all lived a very happy life.

The End.

isn't that just beautiful? even with the book's little deviation from the plot to seeing a nice cat and then back again, I think this book is better than most books in book stores.
copyright Emma McGinnis

:)

last month it was Christmas

I think that it took me this long to sort and crop pictures because I simply needed to recuperate from it all - from the mess (which is still present to some extent) the noise (which has subsided a bit now that the kids have school again) and the chaos (which never really ends).

this morning I finally set to it and decided that I would pick only a couple of pictures for each of the kids and talk about their Christmas.

Erica -
opening a Tshirt she's been begging to have for some time...

and here she is modeling said shirt. In all our geekdom, this is funny. there aren't a lot of people around here that get this, but she's okay with that... she enjoys being 'elitist' in her nerdy-ness.
I'm okay with that, she's not snobby about it, just different. I like that she feels special and more of an individual. I really like that because she doesn't feel like she has to be a certain way to be a part of a crowd - that she, being herself, is good enough.

back in August, she was robbed. it's a very long story, but the nut shell is it was at our church building and there was a dance which included much of southern and central MN. someone walked off with her mini back pack which contained all of her bobbin lace supplies and many of her other crafting items. she was devastated.
I had to replace these for so many reasons.

Tim-

every time that Timothy goes to a friend's house who has Super Mario Smash Bros. he begs me to get him the game... he totally loves it.
this begging has gone on for years. so I finally caved in this year.

I am making it a tradition for the next few years to make a blanket for one of my kids for Christmas. Two years ago Connor got his. Emma got one last year. This year was Timothy's turn. I want these blankets to be unique and suit their personality perfectly so that they will get to use and love it for many many years.
Timothy got this one. The TARDIS. I made a pattern/graph and crocheted it with a few different techniques to get the effect that I wanted. and it turned out beautifully.

I have since sold the pattern quite a few times. I had one person inquire about how much I would charge to make one. I guess it was a bit steep for her because she hasn't gotten back to me... oh well, I only really made it for Timothy so anything else is bonus

Emma-

Secret Santa visited our house a couple of nights before Christmas. it was exciting and the kids were buzzing with glee.... but I was a buzz kill when I made the kids wait until Christmas day to open most of them.
How on Earth did Santa know that she LOVES littlest pet shop toys. I guess that's why he's Santa

this year I tried to get the kids games in which they needed to actually think and touch the game in order for it to work... (ie: no video controllers involved - with the exception of Tim's game)
a few months before we had been to my sister's house and they have Mastermind. I used to have that game when I was a kid and I used to play it with my mom for hours when she was sick. those moments with my mom are still so precious to me. so when Emma said that she really liked that game, I just had to get it for her. it's terrific and so much fun, we've enjoyed playing this game together.

Connor-

along with mittens and necklaces and blankets and so on... I make toys. I did not make the pattern for this, I found it on one of my crafting community sites. but I saw him and knew Connor really should have one. we hadn't seen the movie, Despicable Me, yet but I knew that it would be a hit. Connor likes him very much and Ronan wants one now (he might have to wait until his birthday)

last year when Timothy got his tent and sleeping bag for camp Connor started telling me that I needed to get a tent and sleeping bag for him. I heard his stories about how I was going to get him a sleeping bag and tent over and over and over. oh, and by the way, they had to be Star Wars sleeping bag and tent. I asked him if he would be mad at me if he didn't get them and he said YES.
I shopped for Star Wars themed sleeping bags and the only ones out there are just boring! then for all their boring-ness, they are also expensive enough to cause a heart attack.
so I figured if I was going to have to spend a fortune I was going to get something cool beyond words.
to you Star Wars fans, that is a Tauntaun. the zipper pull is a light saber. it is the most awesome Star Wars themed sleeping bag ever invented!

Ronan-

Ronan loves Iron man. I may as well name him IRonan man. last winter I made Ronan some mittens with circles on the palms to represent Iron Man's flight stabilizers and energy weapons. he adored them and would even wear them in the Summer time while playing Iron man.
We found this Arc Light that attaches to your kid's shirt and when you press it, it lights up and makes sounds like weapons charging.
Ronan is letting me have it -- psheww

being that my children are born geek, they love toys and stories that are not traditionally children's toys or stories.
Doctor Who, for example. They love Doctor Who about as much as I do and that is a lot. it was a part of my childhood and now it is a part of theirs.
so when I asked my 3 year old what he wanted for Christmas, I really shouldn't have been surprised to hear him say "a Doctor Who toy"
he specifically wanted a TARDIS. guess what he got for Christmas.
It was great watching him open this. he ripped a bit of paper and then realized what it was then went kind of frantic trying to rip the rest of the paper. it was like his arms and hands didn't work right, he was trying so hard to get it open immediately.
:)

6 years old!

where did the time go?

click picture for a better look

I know... I still have to sort Christmas pictures

I'm totally lame because I haven't even really looked that closely at them.
you must think I'm just being lazy and good for nothing
when, in fact, I've been 'working'
you might be thinking, "you don't have a job" but I do - kind of. I have my tiny little shop which just last month I had record sales. I made almost $100. RIGHT ON!!!

I have made a stunning new pair of earrings for which I need to make an equally stunning necklace. for the last couple of days I've been working on a new pattern and I think that making tiny little forget-me-not flowers are giving me arthritis in my fingers, but they are really cute. now I need to get some yellow seed beads and some gentle blue thread and make a necklace or bracelet or two out of that color combo.

I also made Connor's R2D2 hat and I have been working on a plan for the next Christmas present blanket ~ I'm thinking a drop dead wonderful White Tree of Gondor on a blanket of totally gorgeous blue or perhaps green, for Erica. I mentioned it to Tim (the husband) and he want's it... but he already has a blanket so he'll just have to wait. now begins the shopping for the perfect color blue or green

as Ronan would say it's RDD2

I know that I have yet to sort through Christmas pictures and post them here and talk about that day... but I just had to share the last project I worked on.
I found this pattern... it's for knitting, but really any graph pattern is fair game for anyone who can translate it into their craft...



I made the child's size but my hook was too big so the hat ended up large enough for an adult to wear. it's a bit rough, but I'm sure with a bit of wear and washing it will loosen up and blend much better.