October 2011 photos

Teeny tiny Mochimochi candy corn. Isn’t he cute?

Bobbles the Sheep dishcloth  This was my first attempt at bobbles and might be my last.

Mr. Caterpoopypants is our pet.{JJ} caught him the other day and I felt bad about releasing him outside since the weather channel was predicting major snow and temperatures in the teens. SO I pick fresh lilac leaves for him twice a day which he loves to eat. One thing I never knew about caterpillars, not that I know a lot about them, is that they poop a lot!
 

{O} playing the lap steel and {H} practicing on his drum pad.


{O} at Rock Park on a class hike

 

My three wild & crazy handsome boys! I love them so!
All four of my guys decorating Halloween cookies last night!

Sights & smells of Autumn

1. Finally some new blossoms on my Lavendar plant! My kids and I always walk by this plant and rub the leaves and smell our hands! One of my favorite scents!
2. Nothing says "Fall!" like a beautiful Mum! Did you know that they can survive in temps as low as -20 degrees? I didn't but the info tag that came with said it could.
3. Oh my, not only do these fresh loaves of Pumpkin bread look yummy, they taste yummy! My whole house smells delicious!
4. Our beautiful Aspens are losing leaves and changing colors.

I <3 Autumn!

Autumn is the best time of year in my opinion. My flowers are still alive and doing great, our grass is recovering from the heat and dryness, our garden is actually growing nicely  thanks to the reprieve of hot nights and even hotter days.   It’s a very relaxing peaceful time of the year for me. All the wonderful colors, smells and baked goods! And let’s not forget knitting in the fall, it rocks! When everything else is slowing down, I feel revived during this time of year. Hopeful, serene. I wish it could be this way always!

{This Moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in my comments or over at SouleMama’s  for all to find and see.

 

(to view larger photo click on the “read more” link. I am trying to change the css so all posts are on one page and can show more than one photo without having to click the “see more” link.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(please excuse our ugly backyard mish mosh of tiles, rocks, weird wood rail and that ornamental stuff on the right on the bottom of the house. I think each previous added separate things because nothing in this yard matches or even makes sense! LOL  My goal is to get rid of everything and build a beautiful deck)

{This Moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in my comments or over at SouleMama’s  for all to find and see.

The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses. by Hanna Rion

 

Our seedlings are almost ready to plant in the garden! I am so excited! We just need to figure out the best time to put these into the ground. Most people in Colorado will say not to plant anything until Mother’s Day is past because it can snow on up to the middle of May. Last year was proof!

This year we have 16 different varieties of herbs and vegetables and one blueberry bush. Our next step is planting fruit trees, tomato's and of course strawberries! We are even thinking about getting some chickens. Living a more sustainable life is not a fade it’s a necessity!

Easter Eggstravaganza 2011

This morning I took the boys to the park near our house for the annual egg hunt. We had a lot of fun and the boys saw a lot of friends from school. We took pictures with the Easter Bunny and a cute Panda. The boys were confused about why a Panda was at an Easter Egg Hunt, as was I. Not sure what Panda & Easter have in common but it was cute so of course I had to take a photo.
The sad thing about this event is that every year the park posts signs around the hunt area that it’s for kids only, no parents and every year parents go into the area with their child which blocks the view of the parents who stayed on the sidelines (and followed the rules) to watch their kids so you lose visual sight of your own child.
The other problem is that these well-meaning (sarcasm!) parents can be sadly competitive and do the hunt for their child. While this is totally acceptable if you have a little one in the 0-2 year old group or a child with special needs but does a child in the Kindergarten group on up to 4th grade really need parental help gathering plastic eggs?  Anyhow, I took photos and in the end the boys had fun and I had fun knowing my kids enjoyed themselves  which is all that matters, right?

Easter Eggstravaganza - 2011 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The house is ours!

I am so excited and thankful that this part of the process is over. Now onto the next. We need to schedule the inspection and go over the disclosures and we should close on the house on May 24th! Wow, it’s amazing how quick this all happened. I have been looking at houses now for over a year but Jas wasn’t serious about it until just recently since our lease is ending at the end of May so it has only been a couple weeks since we got serious about the whole thing. And now look, we have our own home again! I can’t wait! Here are a few photos I took from the website. Of course the furnishings aren’t ours. The sellers are leaving the patio furniture for us though which is nice since we didn’t take ours when we moved from Arizona.

The front of the house. There are two huge Aspens on the left side of this photo. It is going to look so pretty when all the leaves come in and in the fall when the Aspens change.

  

Kitchen with dining area

Family rooms. There is a divider between the dining room and family room so it’s all open.

The front room

Another view of the kitchen with island. I have never had a kitchen with a window.

Master bedroom. Bathroom is open door and it has a walk in closet.

This is a room connected to the master bedroom. It’s a “retreat” and it’s MINE! It’s my office, knitting area and “Panic room” when I need to get away from my kids aka: the nutty bunch.

The master bath.

Bedroom 2. I love the colors for J&O’s room but not the tree w/bird. It’s very girly.

Third bedroom

Boys bath. I love the colors and need to find a shower curtain to match this room.

Patio area. The sellers are leaving the table for us. Nice huh? They have a prepared garden box (in background) all ready for planting!

Back of house.

More yard. The yard is around a 1/4 acre which in our area is a large yard. I am so excited to have a big yard again! I am already planning an outdoor bbq for Jason’s 40th birthday! :)

That’s it. I guess I had more than a few photos to share!

 

Quote of the day:
Everybody believes in something and everybody, by virtue of the fact that they believe in something, use that something to support their own existence. - Frank Zappa

Keep your fingers crossed and maybe say a prayer, it can only help!

We are about to make an offer on a house. Not THE house but a very beautiful house. Smaller but this is a turnkey home, nothing to fix or paint. Huge yard, beautiful kitchen, and a private retreat with a fireplace in the master bedroom. That would be all MINE! I can just imagine myself sitting in my retreat in the winter with the fire going while knitting in peace. My own room. My very own room. Wow, I hope I haven’t set myself up for disappointment.
Cross your fingers, toes, eyes and whatever body part you can cross for us please! Thanks! Of course either way I will post the outcome. Gotta go, I have huge butterflies in my belly right now, some just flutters and others that feel like huge birds.
Have a great rest of your Sunday.

Quote of the day:
Never eat more than you can lift. - Miss Piggy
 

We took the first step!

Jason is putting a bid on the HOUSE FOR SALE that I posted about earlier in the month. I am not getting my hopes up because as I mentioned it’s a short sale with one bid on the house that’s been sitting at the bank since October 2009. I am not sure how the whole short sale thing works out but I know it can be a long process . Thankfully we are renting but we still need to find out if we can go  month to month because I would like to follow through as far as we can on this offer.

There are two other offers in line if the first offer falls through so we are putting a bid down for the full asking price to have a better chance at having the bank pick our offer if the other two are lower.  This house is worth so much more. Even now, the asking price is a good deal and when the economy is better and the real estate market recovers this house will have been an incredible investment. Once the basement is finished the total square footage of the house will be 4,500 sf and without the basement the rest of the house is still 2,615 sf. That’s a nice size house.

I am excited but like I said, not getting my hopes up. Cross your fingers for us and I will update more later when we hear something from the realtor and hopefully the bank!

Quote of the day:
I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions. - Augusten Burroughs

Colorado Springtime Snow

The snow started around 6 p.m. last night and finally ended today. Where we live we got around 12 inches of snow total, thankfully not the 20 inches they were calling for. It was wet and heavy and we ended up losing power at our house for most of the morning.  Thankfully the sun is out and it’s starting to melt. I am so tired of the winter this year! Enough snow already, bring on warm temps and sunny days! Here’s a few photos I took of the snow. Like you haven’t seen snow before, right?

There’s a large hill in between those houses that you can’t see due to how much and how fast the snow was blowing.





Quote of the day:
I just need enough to tide me over until I need more. - Bill Hoest

What a beautiful day!

For a Monday, geez I just realized it’s actually Tuesday! The kids didn’t have school yesterday so it seems like a Monday to me! :) So anyhow, things have gone pretty well this morning. H was already up and dressed when I got up, J got up immediately and O only slightly gave me a fuss about getting up. He’s my slug child in the mornings, very dramatic about how tired he is and it’s literally like dressing a slug (not that I have dressed a slug, but you get the point), he makes it almost impossible to dress him.
Had a good weekend, the niece spent Saturday and Sunday here so the boys had a nice time seeing their cousin.
I start school today. I wish I could say I am excited about today’s class (Astronomy) but I am not. I am also taking Biology and Philosophy which I am not excited about but can handle.  I am getting antsy to start the nursing program already! One more year. Seems far away but I’ll tell you this last year since starting school has flown by! Thank God!
Anyhow, I have also been busy with my knitting. Or at least trying to get some of my WIP done so I can dive into some of my new sock yarn stash.
Here’s a few new photos of some yummy new yarn I purchased through http://www.knitpicks.com/  They have a new line of sock yarn that is hand painted and the colors are just beautiful AND affordable! $9.99 a hank and it’s enough for one pair of socks! Woohoo.  I also snuck in a few photos of my baby Jack (he’s 4 but he’s still my baby! )
Jack playing the new XBox the boys Grandpa bought them for Christmas.


Sock Stash = LOVE

Stroll Hand Painted Sock Yarn: Colorway in Make Believe
  

Stroll Hand Painted Sock Yarn: Colorway in Tea Party
 
Stroll Hand Painted Sock Yarn: Colorway in Lullaby

Stroll Hand Painted Sock Yarn: Colorway in Tree Fort

KnitPicks Swish Worsted Superwash Merino in Camel. I plan on knitting a pair of Fetching Mitts from www. Knitty.com and another Irish Hiking Scarf KAL
 
Well enough playing I need to go check in online for school. Happy Blogging all!