I'm dreaming of a mild weather Christmas

The weather around here has been so screwy lately it's been hard to get into the Christmas mood. But I'm not complaining. Things that have helped include putting up our tree, decorating the house, and wrapping presents. And that blizzard last weekend put some snow on the ground which makes a white Christmas seem possible. I like when there is nice snow on the ground, no ice, and no precipitation. Snowy icy Christmases make me nervous because I always think, what a terrible time for an accident to happen. There's a Debbie Downer moment for you. Enough silly thoughts.. onto my favorite things getting me in the mood for Christmas.


I couldn't wait to decorate the tree with these ornaments from Old Navy last year. We nearly bought out their entire supply on clearance, and they must have noticed because this year they have even more fabulous ornaments. I'll have to wait until Christmas is over before I splurge on 75% merchandise again. I think we are going to need a second tree next year.



They had pink and blue, green and purple. I got every one.








My sister and I made these adorable owl ornaments thanks to a pattern from Anna Maria Horner.








Curt & I will be celebrating our first Christmas as husband and wife this year. We just "celebrated" our six month anniversary (he was in Michigan, I was in Indiana celebrating with my friend/bridesmaid... I guess she was close enough, being a wedding-related person.) But we will be able to celebrate Christmas together, at my parents' house this year. We like to wonder when we will have our "own" Christmas... probably not for a very long time because we live in different states from our parents and their families. .I can just hear the [future] kids asking now..."How does Santa know we will be at Grandma and Grandpa's?"

I can't wait for Christmas to come, it's definitely my favorite. Curt's family is coming down this weekend to do Christmas early, then we will head up to Grand Rapids for the real thing.
Finnegan our dog just came out of the bedroom to tell me it's time for bed-- I won't argue. The folks across the street have all gone to bed, so I guess I ought to also.
As my Gaga always says -- TaTa and Toodle Loo!

night time photography

These are some adorable pictures I took of my husband and our dog Finnegan awhile ago while they were sleeping.

They looked so comfy cozy I couldn't help but snap a photo in the night. (I upped the exposure so you can actually see the picture, it's not daytime like it seems)

Grandma's Knit Dish Cloth

My grandma has been knitting for oh - half a century or so. One of her specialties has always been dish cloths that she knits for all her daughters and grand daughters (there are a lot of us). Unfortunately, her arthritis keeps her from knitting like she used to, and there has been a lull in knit dish cloth use ever since. My mom asked me to please get the pattern and make her some dish cloths, and then my aunts all joined in on the wanting. So I got the pattern and knit my first dish cloth tonight. It took a couple hours, but it turned out just like Grandma's, which I pride myself in. I want to keep the tradition going, so I will share it with all of you now. Hopefully some day I will put some pictures up.

Use number 8 needles and 100% cotton yarn (We use Sugar n Cream)

Cast on 4 stitches-knit across

Row 1- K2, increase in next st, K1 (5st)

Row 2- K3, increase in next st,K1 (6st)

Row 3- K3, yarn over,knit to end

Repeat 3rd row until there are 48 stitches on needle then decrease as follows:

K2, K2 together, yarn over, K2 together, knit to end.

Repeat this row until 8 stitches remain.

Next row- K2, K2 together, K2 together, K2 (6 stitches)

Next row K1, K2 together, K2 together, K1 (4 stitches)

Bind off

A December to Remember

Two days into December and temperatures here in Indiana were around 60 degrees today. And it was pouring rain for majority of the day. My parents were visiting for the weekend along with my sister, which was so much fun! Bri stayed at the house with us, and we had a blast staying up late and doing crafts. We used the pattern from Anna Maria Horner's blog to make holiday owls for ornaments and gift toppers. They turned out SO cute, everyone should go there and get the pattern.
I've also been working on a scarf for my grandma out of adorable Yarn Bee yarn I got for 99 cents from Hobby lobby this week. I love it when they have those crazy sales! I bought a bunch of different yarns and ended up getting like 6 for the price of 1, and you can't beat that! Now if I can just finish this report I'm working on so I can spend the rest of my days until Christmas knitting up all these gifts. (A scarf for my grandma, maybe one for my other grandma, a hat for my sister, and my sister in law, and my husband.) My husband bought a big HD TV a few weeks ago, so we decided that would be our Christmas present for each other, and we aren't going to get anything else, but I don't think a knit hat counts, especially since I'm going to use the same yarn for my sister and him and it was also on sale last week for $1.99 and it was more wonderful Yarn Bee baby yarn. I wish I would have gotten more, but I'm sure it will go on sale again soon. I also want to make my grandma's famous wash clothes for the women in my family. Grandma used to make them, but her arthritis has stopped her from knitting, which is terribly sad because it brought her so much joy. I hope I can continue with the family traditions of wash clothes, baby blankets, slippers, and booties, because they are so special to everyone.

Candles and Carols

Time to start preparing for Candles and Carols. Actually, we have been preparing for it for the last 4 months or so. But tonight is the dress rehearsal, which means a long night of playing the same five songs over and over and waiting for the other ensembles to finish singing their songs over and over. Probably the longest night of the year...
But it all pays off tomorrow night, when we perform for a packed audience of parents, family, friends, alumni, and strangers. And then they broadcast the performance all over the world, which is also pretty exciting and rewarding.
And this is my fourth and final Candles and Carols, so it's bittersweet. That's about how my life is lately, bittersweet. I'm almost done with school, which means big changes and leaving people I don't want to leave. But it also means moving on and starting a new exciting chapter of life.
But I digress...
Alright, time to get going. I've been wasting two hours at work when I should have been doing a major report :-(
Candles and Carols!

my, my it's cold outside

I can't believe how cold it's getting! Just a couple weeks ago we were soaking up the 70+ sunny weather. Now everything is freezing up, my husband was frosted out of the car this morning! brrrr
Something to warm you up: Pan Cozies!
My parents got new skillets, and they asked me to make them some sort of casing to keep them nice in without scratching the nonstick surface. And Mom insisted they match the cobalt blue kitchen, so I made my way to the fabric store and picked out these adorable fabrics. They fit right in with the country-esque style of their kitchen.

I really love the polka dot fabric, plus it's so soft!



I sewed up the fabric with quilt batting in the middle for added pan cozy comfort (for the pans, I guess). I sewed on metal snaps to hold the cozies around the pan handles. I made three: for 8", 10", and 12" skillets.

They turned out so well, I didn't want to give them to my parents. But I eventually got around to mailing them out, or my husband did. Anyway, my parents are now using the pan cozies and they love them. I need to get fabric to match our green kitchen and make some pan cozies of our own!

It's too cold and the computer is moving to slow for me to go on anymore. And my poor little puppy is laying here looking at me like, "please, can we just go to bed?"

The week after

After a nice break from school to travel and see family, I'm back to school work and housekeeping. One load of laundry in, an infinite number to go. One last and final report due next week Tuesday that I have to work on. And a busy week of Candles and Carols preparation. Enough blogging for now, I have more homework to do. I've been doing a lot of craft projects lately, so I will have to post pictures soon!

Say Cheese!

My husband brought me cheese slices the other night, and this is how he delivered it to me -- in the shape of a heart! How adorable.

He is such a good husband, and the cheese wasn't half bad either. 

Grand Grand Rapids

I visited my parents this weekend in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It's always nice going home and seeing my family. On Friday we started the day early with breakfast at Bill's with my Grandma. Then we (and by we I mean me and my husband) traveled to Hope College to visit my sister, who is a freshman there. It was nice to see her again and finally see the tiny rectangle she calls a dorm room. Seriously, I can't believe she lives there. We went out to lunch with her and another friend of ours that goes to Hope. We went to the 8th Street Grill and had the famous soup bar, it was delicious. After visiting with my little sister more, we headed back to GR to meet up with my parents. We ended up going out to eat with my friends Megan and Matt, and my parents to the Macaroni Grill. It was so good and we celebrated my dad's birthday with a rich brownie and a guy singing Happy Birthday in Italian not so well. We then toured the new Meijer at Cascade, which is an upscale Meijer. It was amazing.

I should mention that Thursday night we went to a concert in Fort Wayne. My favorite of all time TobyMac with my least favorite of all time: Thousand Foot Krutch. Barlow Girl also performed, and while they aren't my kind of act, they did look cute. I want to know where they shop. I'll post a picture from the show later. We got backstage seats, so we had an incredible time, as usual at TobyMac concerts. Ironically, we went to that concert with our other friends Matt and Megan.
Alright, enough chit chat for now. I have to go to bed.

Hurray Beret!

I just finished my first attempt at knitting a beret hat. I've made beanies, but never a beret. I was inspired by a few pictures of celebrities wearing them, so I set out to make my own. I found a pattern for a floppier beret from www.purlbee.com - they have lots of great patterns online and really cool ideas. It is a very inspiring site.
I'll post some pictures when I get them. This one is black, but I can't wait to make more in different colors because it is so cute!
Has anyone been watching Side Order of Life on Lifetime? I love it, I can't wait for the season finale tomorrow night.
As for now, I'm going to make dinner and enjoy a movie.