Been Busy!!!!!!

Lets see. . last week. . .baked a second carrot cake for Tom at work.. . . . which came out great once again. I miss baking. . .I so need more room. Decorated it exactly the way I did Joel's except it had a little accident on the way to work. . .but luckily after years of experience baking cakes with my mom. . .I brought extra frosting to patch it right up.

Silly me tried to put it in the car with my purse on my shoulder. . .came right off my shoulder full force into the side of the cake . . . .whoops :( Fixed it right up. . nobody noticed anything.. .although I don't know if cream cheese frosting is good for leather?. . .it is extra shiny in that spot.

Then. . big day Monday. . .I got my braces off!!!!! Finally after 3 years of treatment for my TMJ. . .I am done! I am sooooooo happy! It has been such a long process. I am finally pain free and like my smile! I had lots of popcorn and gum and popcorn and gum!

Although the week was filled with excitement and way to much work. . .I did have a really relaxing weekend. . . .

My sunflowers are up! Someone who loves me planted them for me!

Yep. . .that would be him!

Barley enjoying the front on the canoe on Glen Lake.

And the lily pads. . .she seems to think it is game to see how many she can grab and bring into the canoe on the way by. . . .but the worst was the dead snail she caught that was floating on the surface. . she bit it to it and that was all we could smell for hours! Lets just say . . . no Barley kisses for a while. .yuck!

Love this photo. . she is getting so grown up!

A Healthy Happy Birthday!

Joel had a healthy happy birthday cake this year. He turned 33 on Friday and for his birthday I have two choices for a cake.

1. Carrot cake
2. Cherry cheese cake.

I decided on carrot cake this year and went for a "from scratch and totally organic"!

After searching online I found a long list of great recipes off the whole foods website. They really have some outstanding dishes! Check it out if you have a chance.

We had a barbecue and our friend Mark's house with my in-laws and some friends from town. Food was great and there was not much left of my cake. . .even though there was another store bought cake there. . . .from scratch still proves to be the best!

Today I am baking another one for work since Friday was also one of the partners birthdays. . .so I am back at it again. . .starting to realize how much I miss baking. . I haven't done much since we moved into this apartment several years ago. The kitchen is sooooooo tiny and I have two tiny spaces of counter to work on . . .I just can't move which drives me nuts. I just can't wait until we close on our house and I have room to move again! (which there still is no change in. . .she is still next on the waiting list for the retirement home . . .poor thing. . she is as anxious as we are).

Weekend Crafting

Knitting News:

Jasmine. . . . the back is complete !!!!! Finally . . . .that is a lot of stockinette stitch. . zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. . .ya I am awake. . I was going crazy just to get to the gosh darn garter stitch. . .at some point I may need to go back to the kauni or start something else. . .throw me a cable here?

Scrapping News:

It has been a while but I actually got to scrapbook this weekend at Jeanean's house with my good friend Rita-roo. . .we have been planning for months to get together but out schedules are all over the place. I can't wait to hang out in your new craft room Rita-roo! :) Some day I will have mine too and maybe we can do a "host one Saturday a month" and flip-flop.

I am also glad that I now have a color to work with. . . I am digging through patterns and trying to decide what to knit . . .but I have til November. . I got time. Baby sweaters are quick:)

Spinning News:

Finished the peacock roving this weekend and then got to start on local wool. This is wool from a local Poultney sheep that was given to me as fleece. I took it to Rhinebeck this fall for processing and have tons in my stash. I have several rovings in white, gray, and brown. The plan is to spin thin and ply . . . .I think I will experiment with two colors together.

Chemise on. . .ignore the sunburn. . .

Finally got Christine to take photos of me in the drawstring chemise. . which would probably look better on me (now that I see the photos) if it was a little more fitted . .but it is so comfortable just the way it is. I made a medium to be on the safe side with the yarn because my torso is so long . . . but it is much wider than my waist line. Oh well, I don't like my shirts tight anyway.



Ignore the sunburn marks. . .god what an idot. . went out on the 4th and forgot my sunblock. . a duh! So bad. . . .luckily I wasn't out very long . . . only for an hour or two or else I would have been a lobster!

Jasmine

Started the long awaited Jasmine by Kim Hargreaves. I ordered this directly from her website as a kit so I could get the exact buttons used in the photo. I really love the simple conservative look of this sweater.

So far I really like working with this yarn although it is a little on the light weight side. Working in US size 1 and 2 needles. The yarn is a 4ply cotton and unlike most cottons it does not split at all!! Good job Rowan! I just finished the Chemise with cotton glace and this left me with the same experience. I really enjoy Rowan yarn. . .I hate to be a yarn snob but you really do get what you pay for. The quality is unbeatable.

Busy week this week. . . .we will see how much knitting I actually get done. Joel and I can not commute together this week. . .at all since has electrofishing all week. . .and I am at audit most of the week. Between job wrap ups, the gym, and studying for the CPA exam. . .I might have time to breath. . . . a little. . .but not like the past two weeks with vacation days and holidays.. . .bummer:(

A Day of Spinning

A day of spinning today. . . it really has been a long time. Today, I remembered exactly how much I love the feel of the wool spinning and drafting between my fingers. I went back to my Greta Dise roving that I purchased at Rhinebeck over a year ago. . .which I started working on with Julie last summer. . .how bad is that. . .it's called peacock and we both started it at the same time. Greta's roving is just to die for and I usually purchase one bag every year.

It really is amazing to see the line at her booth every year . . . . .people just keep coming back and you can't get enough. . .I know I am one of them. The color is amazing and it really is easy to spin.

I also remembered how much I love my spinning wheel. . .thank you Marlee! She talked me in to getting a louet. . .it's an S51 DT(double treadle). It is so easy to transport and I can take it just about anywhere. . .it is one of the easiest to learn on and sooooooo low maintenance. It never gives me any trouble.

The only downfall I see to it. .. is that is it is not as pretty as a traditional wheel. . .but I can live with that.

I also finished my chemise this week. . but I have to get someone to take a photo of me in it. I did however wear it to a clients on Thursday and everyone at work loved it. It really came out nice. . .I am thinking about making my sister one for Christmas.

Over all it has been a nice 4th of July weekend. Joel made me get up and do a 5k on Friday at 8:00am. I was doing great too.. . .kicked butt up the hill and then about a mile away from the finish line. . .my ipod locks up!!!!! I of course freaked out and had to stop and fix it. I just can't be without my music. . .so needless to say I was over 30 minutes by like 30 seconds . . and I so would have been under 30 if I hadn't panicked. . . .but oh well. . .at least I got up and got out there. I haven't ran three miles straight in over a month.

Happy Independence Day!