So Busy

Yikes I have been so busy. Homeschooling, knitting my sock, now crocheting Ashley another doll, and job hunting. Universal cut out the number of shows they do in the park and it may affect my hours. I pray every week I have hours. So far so good. I am looking for another job. I want to go to Disney and get into the Cosmetology Dept. I would be taking care of the character's hair. I will let you know what happens. This is a photo of Austin and I playing the drums at Epcot. So much fun.
I took the kids to Artfest- All arts all week all free. They did pottery, painting, and other crafts. It was fun. I have more photos and other things we did. I just haven't uploaded it yet.

I've been taking the kids for swimming lessons at Southwest Aquatics. I will have video in the next blog. My whole life is potentially changing in the next couple of months. How exciting!!!! Sorry I have been absent and I hope to catch up on the blogs I read as well.

My Sock Continues

I can't believe how long it has taken me to knit this sock this far. I work on it every day. It is keeping me from blogging. How long does it normally take to knit socks?

My First in Progress Sock

O.K. so this sock had to be ripped out. I CO too tightly and it wouldn't go over my ankle. I am using one size larger needle and CO loosely. It goes over my ankle now. Yea check it out in the next photo.

I am having fun learning how to knit a pair of socks on my own. I can't wait till I am finished. So far I have put one week into this sock. I better get busy.

Also this week we got frost. I am sure everyone North of Georgia is thinking big deal, but we were worried about our Orange trees, and plants that are not cold tolerant. Here is a photo of the frost.

You can't see it very well, but it was there I promise. I will take pictures of the damage. Yikes there is brown on most of my plants. It will grow back. I will only have to do a little trimming.

Well today it seemed to be back to normal the high was around 74. I feel bad for those up North freezing their butts off. Stay warm everyone!!

A Fun Quiz

I took this quiz from my son's school website. It was fun. I hope you enjoy!!!

I'm a Quiz Bowl Challenge Rock Star—are you?

I correctly answered 19 out of 20 questions in the Connections Academy Quiz Bowl Challenge!

Take the Connections Academy Quiz Bowl Challenge to see how you match up mind-for-mind.

A Tribute To Brian Pollock

This is a video of Brian doing his work of Art. He is amazing isn't he!!!!! I work with him in the Terminator show at Universal Studios. Today was his last day at work at Universal. He is going to live his dream and do his act all over the East coast mainly and live near The Florida Keys. He is also going to be a Captain of his own boat. I admire him for going and living his dream you go Brian. i got to cut his hair before he left. I told him to not pay me for it, but he did anyway. Well I got a pair of #2 Bamboo knitting needles with the money he gave me. I will always think of him when I use them. Thanks Brian. Good luck in all of your endeavors.

I know you may not see this next video very well, but it is Brian's Final performance of today. He says he will be back as a casual, and try to pick up some shifts, so we may see him soon. I guess we will have to wait and see what happens. Well hear it is.

I had so much fun working with him. He has many interesting things to talk about. I love talking to people like that. I admire people that have a goal and get to that point their life when they can reach there goals or move towards them. Good Luck Brian!!!!!!

My Son's Blog

Well, I have to plug my son's blog. If there are any lego fans out there, or any kids around age 7, They might like Austin's blog. It was fun for Austin to do and it encouraged him to write. His blog if you would like to check it out is http://www.legomission.blogspot.com/ Thanks for checking it out.

I Did One

Well I finally did my first weaving on my triangular loom my second cousin gave me Jean Sparks. She is an amazing weaver, and I aspire to be as good as her. I learned so much with this piece. First I need to be a little tighter on my first row. Also at the end I need to weave it around the ends with the over under method. I need to watch out and make sure it is so. Next time I will take it completely off then crochet the edge. It isn't perfect, but I enjoy seeing what I have learned. I am going to make another one to make a square. or maybe 3 more to make a bag. It was fun to make and I did it while I was at work on some down time. This is one resolution I have completed. Last night I cast on to do my swatch for my first pair of socks. I want my first pair to be wearable, so a swatch is a must. The yarn is very pretty, and I want to make sure I do everything I know to do to be able to knit them.

At the top of my blog I write that I love gardening. I've never posted about it, not sure why, but I am going to now. I have a Horticulture Degree from Valencia Community College. I enjoyed going to school there. After I received my degree I went to the Landscape Department. I got to plant tons of flowers, trees, and shrubs. I also maintained them. It was so much fun. I left the department because I decided to home school my son and the hours at work were from 3am till 12:30 pm. I would've been too tired to teach him. This is why I went back to Entertainment. I am a casual which means I generally don't work 40 hours a week. This schedule has worked out for me so far, and Austin has blossomed as a student. Our family went to Sea World yesterday and I saw some hanging baskets that were very pretty and easy to maintain.

This is a basket full of geraniums. They planted two different colored geranium plants in the basket. This size basket I would only plant 2 (6 inch) pots in it. I would only water it once the soil has lost its moisture. They don't like wet feet, or for the soil to be wet all the time. I would used a liquid miracle grow once a month. If you pinch or cut off the blooms once they are spent or dead they will flower more. They will produce more flowers if the basket gets more than 6 hours of full sun.

This is a basket of Begonias. They are very pretty as well, and do well in baskets. You could plant 3 or 4 (4 inch) pots of these in a triangle or square in the basket near the edge of the basket. They will do very well in shade or full sun.

This is a basket of Petunias. They look best when you dead head them, or cut off the dead blooms. It will also help them to bloom more and have more foliage. You can plant them, 4 (4 inch) pots in different colors, or the same. They also don't like to stay too wet. They will bloom better in full sun. I like how they hang out of the pot. If any of you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I hope you enjoyed the flowers.

I just received a book called " A Weaver's Garden Growing Plants For Natural Dyes and Fibers" By Rita Buchanan I don't know why I didn't put the two together before. I love plants, I love yarn/ fiber. I can put the two together and bring my passions in life together. I can grow my own fiber, grow my own dye, then spin it up, and knit, crochet or weave with it. How exciting this year will be. I am going to do some research and plan for my fiber garden. I will let you know how it is coming along.

New Year's Resolutions

     This year I am going to make a New Year's Resolution I can follow. I did pretty good last year. I learned how to fair isle knit, and weave.
     This year I want to learn how to weave on a triangular loom, knit a pair of socks, spin yarn, and finish my sweater that needs to be fixed. I think this can be accomplished.
     This year, I have so many crafts that I like to do, I am going to dedicate Mondays to weaving only when I am at home. I walk by my loom in my room and I feel sad that I want to finish another project before I finish my purse strap. So, I will work on it on Mondays. This way I will  feel like something is getting done. I would also like to dedicate Fridays to my sewing projects. I will have time at work to get knitting done so that I can do this craft as well. I think that by separating these days I will not feel like I am leaving a craft out. We will see. I will let you know how it is working out for me. I am almost done with my Christmas knitting. I am fortunate that I haven't seen these friends yet. My new sock yarn from Ria is calling my name. Happy new Year everyone.

And The Winners Are

CiCi from sistahsthatknit.blogspot.com. She won the any one item in my etsy shop. The other winner is Katerina from findkaterina.blogspot.com She won the soap gift set. Congratulations!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for all of your comments. I am still figuring out which comments I still want to use. I have already implemented some of them. A big thanks goes out to everyone. Oh yeah Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!2009

One Of The Prizes In My Contest

Finally photos of one of the prizes I am giving away in my blog contest. I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of the other 15 I made. It is a felted rectangular bowl made with Paton's classic wool , a lavender soy candle, a soap sock, and (olive oil, rosemary, peppermint, eucalyptus soap) All items are handmade by me. Except the glass container. Glass blowing is not on the list of things to learn.

My favorite thing that I made in this prize was the soap. I've never made soap before and I can't wait to make more so that I can have one for myself. This gift set cost me about $3.00 to make. I have so many family members it helped me save some money. Good luck on the contest everyone. If you haven't entered Please visit the Dec. 2nd post and follow instructions.

Christmas Was Fun

I had a wonderful Christmas. I got to see my niece!!!! I haven't seen her since 2 years or so.She is now taller than me. She lives in Florida now. She was in Colorado.We put cookies out for Santa. Santa enjoyed them.It was so cute, Austin was watching Aidan open his presents. He wanted to see what he got. We told him that he could open his and he said oh. He was so excited about Aidan, he almost forgot about his.

Austin finally after a year and a half got his MTT Tradefederation Lego set. Daddy put it together with a little bit of Austin's help, and it looks awesome. Daddy got Mommy a Tassimo coffee maker. The coffee that comes out of this machine is way better than Starbucks coffee. It is like heaven in a cup. I liked it so much I wanted to try another flavor. Before I knew it I was high on caffeine. Barry is so awesome. Thank you Barry for the coffee, You rock.

The men were enjoying some guy time while children were running around. It looks like John on the right, my sisters boyfriend in checking out what Barry has on his plate. I love how their legs are crossed opposite of each other. I wonder if they planned it?

My other sister and her husband Greg found a little quiet time for a smooch. They were sharing a dessert together. Isn't that sweet?

I couldn't go this whole post without bringing up my crafting. I crocheted this snowman out of fabric a couple of years ago. He is a little over 2 Ft. tall. I also made one for my in laws. It really didn't take that long to make. When we got home that day we put together more toys for the boys. Train tracks, Lego's, and Cars stuff. I forgot to take a picture of the handmade gifts I made this year. I will post the gift set for the blog contest when I get it done, which will be tomorrow. The felted basket has to dry for a day.
Oh, Don't forget about my contest on Dec. 2nd post. Deadline is Dec. 31st at midnight. I will be working, so I won't be able to post until I wake up in the morning. Good luck to all!!!!

Pictures Of My Boys

They had so much fun getting their pictures taken!!!!!!! I wanted to cry. They are getting so big. Here are more photos!!!!!!

I just want to hug and squeeze them. I got these photos for their grandparents. They've been bugging me for pictures of them. I am so glad I did. The photographer was awesome. I thought Aidan was not going to be good, but he loved it. I may be biased, but they sure are cute. Barry says they get it from him. What do you think?
This is a photo of us in Cades Cove. Barry has a fierce goatee going on, don't mess with him, that goatee has super human powers. He has shaved it off since the trip. Now he is just Super handsome Barry. I am off to get more Christmas knitting done. Yikes one more day!!!!