Pictures! Pictures! Pictures! Who wants pictures? Blogger, don't fail me now. Here is a couple of shots of the Noro Rib hat that I just finished. It is done with # 204, a very cool colorway I think:

And just so you don't think I was lying about going to the beach, here are some shots of Flagler and there "orange" sand. Yes, it really is orange and very chunky--

The beach is made up of these shells all crushed up--that is hubby giving the "peace" sign:

Some cheesecake:

And finally, an early morning kind stranger took mine and my husbands picture so that we could actually prove we vacationed together:

The kids were there, too but you don't need to see all of that. This blog could never hold all the photos that we took. Sheeeez! we had such a blast! Peace~DAWN  ¶ 2:08 PM |

  You know how it is. . . you get back from a trip and it is like setting up house all over again. You want to do the things you love (like knitting and reading and playing) but other things take priority (like laundry, grocery shopping and work).

So, today was the first day back at work after a much need break. Not too much happened while I was away (just the way I like it). One of the therapists is leaving after today so we will be down to 4 (that is four therapists sharing 2 rooms, which if you ask me is plenty). The boss lady wants to squeeze too many people into this small office space and it is getting a bit cramped. Any who. . . I was glad to get back to the business that I love and that is helping others to heal themselves. Very important, people. . . take care of yourselves in the best way you can afford. It will make a ton of difference in your golden years. You don't want to be shaped like a lower case "f" do you--all stiff and stooped.

Can you believe that the whole time I was away I didn't pick up a knitting needle or crochet hook once!! not once. I took projects with me, but they just stayed in the bag. Needless to say, I have been busy with my needles and yarn in any spare moments that I can drag up. I am hard at work on Ms. Marigold and I have begun a ribbed Noro Silk hat. I love Noro and was having stripe withdrawals. I feel so much better, now. Oh!! oh! before I left for vacation, I stopped off at the LYS to pick up the hat yarn and they were having a drawing. You reached in a fish bowl and pulled out a piece of paper with a prize on it. I won a free class! Yippie for me! I plan on using it for a beginners sock class (hopefully this fall). That, by the way, was a the big prize. I still can't believe it. Must mean I am suppose to learn something.

Anyway, I hope to dazzle you all with a few photos this weekend. We had to totally dump our laptops memory because we got infected with a killer virus. It is like a brand new baby. I am still discovering things I may never get back. Also, the girlfriend is leaving for N.D tomorrow. It has been two weeks with her here and all has gone well. She will be back in a few weeks; only this time in the dorms at their college. My son is commuting, so there will be a little distance to travel for dates. Awww...
Peace~ DAWN  ¶ 6:00 PM |

  We Are Returned So we made it safely back to our home. All is well and we are rested and flat broke. We had a hell of a vacation. Here is a concise list of our doings:

• beach
• Kennedy Space Center
• beach
• deep sea fishing (only the husband caught a fish from our humble group)
• beach
• Universal's Adventure Island (where I met Spiderman! got soaked by the most disgusting water imaginable on the rip saw river log, had a blast on the other rides, paid way to much for the "fast pass" privilege, and ate at and entertained most of the Hard Rock Cafe patrons)
• beach
• drove to Flagler Beach and decided that it was not the best or even close to the next best beach in Florida
• went to Daytona 500 speedway and celebrated my 40th!!! birthday by riding in a nascar at speeds of 170 mph 3 laps around the Daytona speedway! wooooo hoooooo, lots of fun that was
• beach

Alas, time and money ran out (money much faster than time, so thanks to credit cards we were able to continue till the end). I have to go back to work on Friday and make oodles of greenbacks to pay for this trip 'o fun. We had a blast and most important, the kids have some great memories. Not to mention getting to tell every person in Florida that they could, that I was 40! nice kids.

Great to be home and back to my routine. Oh, and I would like to give a big shout out to my dad who on this day (July 26th in the year 2006) made a HOLE IN ONE at the golf course. He had a witness and the ball may soon be bronzed. **golf clap** everyone. . .

Peace~DAWN

  ¶ 3:56 PM |

  We're Outtie Okay, so I didn't get the work in progress pictures up like I thought I might. My bad.

We are leaving tonite for our 12 day vacation to Florida, so I have been busy with pre-vacation planning and errands. Today is not any better. I still have to pack for me (can you believe all the kids have their bags ready to go). I need to run to the bank and drop one of the cars off to get a tune up while we're gone. Plus, the truck needs to be packed and I have to get my knitting projects sealed in zip-lock bags to take along. There will be 3 projects: a Turkish grocery bag, a Noro hat and the Ms Marigold.

Please check back around the 26th or 27th of July and I will be up and running again. In the meantime, happy crafting and enjoy the rest of your summer!! Peace~ DAWN

  ¶ 10:58 AM |

  Mark My Stitch Between working on Ms. Marigold and doing laundry, I decided to make up a few beaded stitch markers for myself. I have been using some ugly plastic rings (which serve their purpose, but are not attractive by any means) or just plain old jump rings. These are much more to my liking. I have tons of beads that just sit in their tubs waiting to be made into something, anything. I have a compulsion to buy beads, yarn, rubber stamps, pens, paper, tea, perfume/oils, books, and candles. I can't help myself. My house looks like a big dry goods store. My family may revolt one day but that would mean they would have to give up model cars, toy cars, video games, car magazines, skateboard parts and anything remotely to do with tools. Hmm, I don't see a revolution on the horizon. Oh, and I forgot to mention chocolate. I buy a lot of chocolate.

Interesting note(Sunday). I was watching a bird take a bath in the yard today and then it hopped into a nearby bush to preen and dry off. It hopped out of the bush carrying a cheeto. It layed it down and continued to preen for several minutes right in front of me. When it was done it kind of touched the cheeto and then flew off. Now, either the bird thought the cheeto was more of a berry and then said, "shit" and left it there OR it liked me and brought me a cheeto as an offering. I don't know, but it sat there very close to me preening and churping for a really long time. {I just left the cheeto; it was obviously past the 5 second rule}

Well, the house is clean (enough) and the sheets and new pillow have been bought. All that is left is to pick up the girlfriend tonite. Funny: we won't get back to the house till late and both son #1 and the g.f. have to get up at about 6:00 a.m to make it to the college by 7:30 a.m for her orientation. It is a two day thing, so they will have to do it again on Wednesday!! Ha, ha, ha! Second funny, Son #1 already had to sit through this for himself and now he will do it again for his "love". Sweet, no?

Tomorrow I will post progress pictures on the three projects I have on the needles. There will be a fourth joining the fray soon (a nice take along project for our vacation--we leave Friday nite--oooooooo, can't wait). Peace~ DAWN  ¶ 7:48 AM |

  DragonWater Tea Here is a photo of my most delicious order from Dragonwater Tea. This is a really great tea company to order from. {the honey, by the way is super yummy}. This order took less than a week to get to me. The sample packs make several cups of tea and are cheap. The larger quantities depend on the kind of tea you are ordering. They also ship a free sample {mine was the Hibiscus Lemon}. If you are looking for something different, give then a look see.

Pirates 2: Yo ho ho and a bottle of Rum, go see this movie for a boatload of Fun!! It was awesome!! So much fun to watch: funny, gross, exciting--skrew joining the circus, lets become Pirates!

Monday nite, the girlfriend arrives for 2 weeks. She will be going on vacation with us and then returning to N. Dakota to pack up for her move here to go to college with son #1. He is so excited! I can't wait for our Florida trip. We have plans to go to several places but my main plan of attack is laying on the beach, doing NOTHING!!! The first person that says, "oh, my shoulder/back hurts, can you massage me?" gets the smack down brought upon him. Mark my words.

I cast on for the Ms. Marigold 3 times. Three times I got to row 5 and 2 times I had to rip it out. Finally, finally! I am about to begin row 9. It was no fault of the pattern. First time I cast on way to tightly and the second time someone knocked it off the needles. Yeh, not a good time in my house. I just finished the second chart on the Serephim shawl! yippie!! only 2 charts to go. I think I'm gonna need one more skein of yarn to complete it, though. I will wait to order it when I get back from vacation. That is all for today, have a great weekend! oh, and go see the Pirates Deadman's Chest-- you will love it!  ¶ 8:07 AM |

  We Are Alive! I'm sure you weren't scared that we would blow ourselves up, but seriously, this is one of the fireworks tech's at our house:

We had a great fourth. Not without a few finger burns, one forehead burn and some falling debree in the eyes. All in all it was a blast. We saved a few fireworks for when the girlfriend arrives next week. They can't shoot off fireworks on base in N. Dakota (or any military base for that matter).

We have been having awesome weather the past few days and my garden is loving it! Before, it was common to come home from work and see the leaves wilting from the heat. Now we have sights like this:

This was a volunteer, by the way. We didn't plant it, it just sprung up in the front yard where the roses and blackeyed susan's are planted. It is gorgeous and the bees are gonna get some sweet honey outta it.

In honor of Johnny Depp and the Pirate movie {which we are going to see in a few hours} here is a little booty:

ARRRRRRRRR! ~DAWN  ¶ 3:22 PM |

  Help! I Need These Okay, "need" may be a little extreme, but truly--check out JACK SPARROW'S FAVORITE SOCKS and tell me that you don't covet them, too. So here is my problem: I haven't worked up the skills to make socks, let alone the patterning at the top, so if some nice person who loves to make socks wants to, say, make me a pair--the reward would be great. If not, make them for yourself and make me envious. Wow, I've sunk to the level of using my blog to grovel for stuff. Sad maybe, but if it works, worth it...


I started the top from Elann and so far so good. The yarn if very stiff to work with; it is 100% cotton and I think that the dye has made it stiff like cardboard. I love the colorway and hope that with a good washing or two it will soften right up.

We spent mucho bucks on fireworks yesterday and the husband got this:

for $20. As we were leaving [the third fireworks vender] they said they would be having half off of half off on the 4th. My husband, jokingly pointed to the $80 can of explosives and said, "let me know when you mark this down to $20." The guy says, "you want it for twenty? Take it." Well, you don't have to tell my husband twice. His wallet was open and we were at the car like a flash. So BIG goings on at our house on the 4th. Be Safe!! Peace~ DAWN  ¶ 6:12 AM |