Words to live by...

"A good teacher is like a candle - it consumes itself to light the way for others." ~Author Unknown

"A good wife is her husband's biggest fan -- no matter how crazy he is." ~Me


"May God give you.. For every storm a rainbow, for every tear a smile, for every care a promise and a blessing in each trial. For every problem life sends, a faithful friend to share, for every sigh a sweet song and an answer for each prayer." ~ Irish Blessing

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Taxes, Snow Caves, and Knitting... oh my!

Luckily I haven't been eaten by the Tiger since Thursday, so this should be a more upbeat post...

Thursday we had dinner with my brother and his wife at their apartment downtown. Despite my pessimistic attitude going into the evening, we had a great time. They made a tasty beef stew with a couple delicious bottles of wine -- just what I needed. We had some good conversation about the "good old days" of the first Nintendo, Echo the Dolphin, The Oregon Trail, college parties, and embarassing drunken moments. Jim and I have always been pretty good friends considering we're siblings and 4 years apart but unfortunately life has taken us on busy roads lately and we haven't had a chance to hang out. It was a fun night and I hope we do it again soon.

This weekend has been a much needed break in our world that usually revolves around bikes. Chris spent the whole weekend with me -- we took a fun trip to the yarn store in Boulder followed by a delicious brunch at Lucille's and then a quick jaunt to the mall to get some clothes for my cousin's wedding in two weeks. We watched a few movies (I realized I've watched 4 Steve Martin movies in the past 7 days), did a little trainer riding, got to bed early, and slept in both days. Today we were more productive around the house... laundry, bills, cleaning, and taxes. YAY TAXES! Last year the ***** government stole my hard earned savings (aka "the baby fund") to pay for taxes but we caught a break and are getting a refund this year that will pay the baby fund back plus some. We are adults, we do taxes... we are still a bit immature, seeing as we cheered or booed the whole way through the process. Luckily this year we came out on top!

One of the highlights of the weekend was watching Turbo discover the snow cave out front. As Chris shoveled away the snow from our 6th snow storm in 6 weeks, I took Turbo out for a little play time. I think he caught the smell of his daddy and burrowed through the new snow to find the snow cave that Chris built a few weeks back. He wasn't scared and jumped right in, excited to find his own little oasis in the yard. I've decided that if Chris ever has to hide out in a snowcave on an expedition, I'm sending Turbo along with the search party. He had a pretty good sniffer for once. Here are the pictures:






Another exciting part of the weekend was my abundance of new knitting projects! I'm currently working on a baby hat for a cousin's new baby due this month -- it's cute and coming along but a true knitter needs more than one project! I got some double pointed needles to start a hat for myself using some delicious Manos yarn that I bought a while back. It'll be striped pink and gray but I'm wondering if I did it right seeing as I highly doubt this will fit on my head when it's done. I've stalled for a few days while I can get some knitting advice from a fellow teacher.

I also started a scarf for a kid that I had in my class last year. He's in the "emotionally disturbed" classroom but one of the cutest kids I've ever met. He asked for a scarf from the aid that works with him (after reading "The Mitten Tree"), so I've started one out of "bwoo" his favorite color. It'll be an anonymous gift but I'm sure he'll be excited about it. I've knitted this much so far today:

I also got some super cute baby pink yarn for a hat for a friend's baby that is due this month, but I have to finish my other one so I can use the needles...


Well, that's it for now. I hope you all have weeks where you are the Tiger and not his lunch.

4 comments:

Chris said...

Glad you had a great weekend, it was just what we both needed :) Hopefully this week won't be dictated by the weather although with the way that winter 06-07 has been going that might be wishful thinking.

I smell reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeefund!!!

Becky said...

You are so talented! I'm way jealous of your mad knitting skills. I tried knitting once. It ended up in tears, needles kicked across the room, and 5 rows of something, all different lengths...hmm, maybe I need a hobby that has a little less skill than yours!

FixieDave said...

Nice projects going on there....

Turbs is far too cute in the snow cave

Judy said...

Wow! Great knitting projects going on. . .If you're doing the bottom of your hat in rib stitch it will look a little small, but remember that it will stretch. If you followed the pattern and your guage looks pretty good, you should be okay. I always love knitting with Manos and I recently bought some Malabrigo which is like it. I am finishing up a vest (for me!) in dark gray Rowan Big Wool and working on a tiny baby short-sleeve sweater for the baby hope chest. I haven't forgotten about your pattern book, but that darn work takes up so much time. . .