Hot Summer!

The Oklahoma heat is awful this Summer. It was pretty awful last Summer but every Summer it seems to just get worse. It's simply too hot to do anything outside during the day unless it's something that you have to do. With both kids at home right now, it makes for a bit of a challenge some-days but overall they haven't been too bad considering the amount of time we've spent shacked up together :) I am looking forward to school starting though!

Okie dokie what's been going on around here...

Homestead

You may or may not remember the Guinea Pig Situation we had. We had bought Ashley a Guinea Pig for Christmas from a local Pet Shop. We named her Lucy and noticed she was putting on a bit of weight and 3 months later she had babies grr . . so we took all of the babies but one back to the pet shop, making darn sure they were both female! Up until now they have been in one big cage and getting along fine. But as of late the Momma has been picking on the baby a bit so we had to separate them into different cages. Thank goodness we'd picked up a Guinea Cage at a garage sale a few months back so we didn't have to get a new one. They seem fine in their own cages and even seem a bit happier :)


Nothing else new with the house. Our hot water heater is on the fritz yet again. The pilot light won't stay lit so we keep having to light it to warm water for dishes and showers until we can get it fixed. As much trouble as we've had with it, we're tempted to by a new one.. but the price tag is so heavy!

Jake did get the brakes on our van changed. I'm so proud of him, His first time doing so and he did it all by himself :)

Family



My Mom had her first 3 month Check-up. They did a pet scan and everything is still clear. No cancer this time. We're back in 3 months for another check-up. She seems to be getting back to her normal self slowly. Her Neuropathy doesn't seem nearly as bad now, So hopefully it's on the path to getting better.

Back in June on the 16th to be precise my Darlin hubs had a Birthday. He turned 33. I think he had a good birthday. His gift of choice was a Dell Mini which he seems to be enjoying. For his Cake he requested a regular white cake with Chocolate whipped icing. So that's what I made for him!


We celebrated my Sister's 33 birthday Just a few days ago. We bought her a few Necklace, earring and ring jewelry sets and She wanted a chocolate cake with purple icing so I made sure that was what she got. Happy Birthday Sis :)


Jake is back to work full time at Michelin. Sadly they never could find what was bothering his shoulder so they moved him to a different area of the plant where he wouldn't be using his shoulder. He seems to like this work much better. The hours are very different from what they were in the other area he worked in. But we're happy he's back to work.

Next week it will be time to enroll Ashley in school. She will be a 2nd grader this year! I pray she get's a good teacher that can work well with her. She struggles a lot it seems. She's been keeping herself busy this summer watching episodes of The Adventures of Sarah Jane (Dr. Who spin off) and playing My Sims on the Wii. A little reading now and then per Mom's request.

Sadly Abbey did not get into the Headstart program I'd enrolled her in. They had more apps than they had room for. I was really hoping to get her started in school early but it wasn't meant to be. Next year she can start at the regular head start.

Ashley, Abbey and myself have started attending church. We've been visting the First United Methodist church and attending their Contemporary service called Epic. The girls attended their Childrens church this past Sunday and they seemed to really enjoy it. I was glad. Soon we'll give the Sunday school classes a try.

Knitting & Crafts

There has been a lot of knitting going on around here for sure. What better to do when everything is clean and your stuck indoors right?

I did finish my Revontuli Shawl. First lace piece, first shawl and first time blocking for me. I'm happy with the way it turned out. Waiting for cooler weather to wear it the first time.


Awhile ago I knit a baby blanket for the new baby in the family this pattern is from the Creative Knitting Magazine The pattern was called Key Lime Baby Blanket, named after the original colors but of course I knit it in white and pink for a baby girl :)




I also finished up a Cabled Hat. Not sure who this one is for, I'm thinking of trying to sell it actually. But it is cute on Ashley. This one is Sarah's Cabled Hat... there is errata for this pattern if you should decide to knit it :)




I've also been working on some Dishcloths for my kitchen. I only had a few hand made ones and the other ones are in bad shape and need to find a different purpose. Both of these I sorta made up. One came from a stitch dictionary I have.


OTN's I have my sweater, a cabled sock pattern (a first for me), another dishcloth, a cowl and my table runner still. Abbey brought her mitts in from last winter yesterday and they are too small so I've been itching to knit her some mitts but I don't have any extra wool in the house so they'll have to wait until I do.

I've had the sewing itch lately. I finally made room on my craft desk in the dinning room to leave my sewing machine sitting out on it so I could get more use of it. I've been making a few bags here and there. Mostly using tutorial's from blogs and You Tube. Right now I have bought the stuff to make me some new hot pads. I need them desperately.

A bag for Ashley's Knitting Loom.



Project bag for me.. complete with lining and zipper even!



another knitting project bag for me :)



Cooking/Baking

Even though it's been too hot, we still have to eat. I have been wanting to make some bread so bad. But I keep putting it off. I have posted some new recipes on my recipe blog though. If you want to check those out.

Beef N Black Bean Taco Bake
Best Easy Beef N Broccoli Stir Fry

I have a few other new ones I need to get posted in the next week.

I guess that's it for this time.. so until next time . . .