Introducing...Logan Michael!

I am a Gramma again! Above is a picture of my new grandson Logan. He is in Guatemala and probably won't be coming home until the beginning of 2008. My daughter Stacey, and her husband Jon are thrilled. They made the decision yesterday to adopt him and now starts all the paper work, although, they are not foreseeing any problems. Their agency said they can go to Guatemala and visit him as soon as his DNA tests come back. The US requires DNA tests to prove that the woman relinquishing her parental rights is the actual birth mother. The tests take about 1 month. He was born on June 27th and was a whopping 6 lb. 12 oz. Is he adorable, or what?! Jon, Stacey, and Mia will be flying down to see him soon. They will be able to have him with them the whole time they are in Guatemala. I am so thrilled for all of us! Adoption is such a wonderful way to have a family. They have been so blessed to have Mia and now they will add a son to their family! Time to start knitting some blue booties, and maybe a blanket!

I have a finished project! Yee-Haw...they are even done in time for the gift giving on Saturday! They are the Peach Petal Socks by Jean Townsend. Very fun pattern. I will definitely knit this pattern again. The yarn I used was a yarn called Twister that I bought years ago from a vendor in Germany. I don't think it is made any more. The ball was so big that I think I have enough left to make another pair of socks! Now that's a bargain since that ball of yarn was only $8.00! I'll pull out my digital postal scale and weigh the socks and then the leftover and see if there's enough for a pair of adult size. I'm sure my mom will love these socks. They will be given to her on Saturday for her 81st birthday. She loves hand knit socks and truly appreciates them. It's so much fun to give a gift you've knit to someone who will enjoy it.

I cast on the purple cardigan! I knit one row! Then the phone rang and all the excitement about Logan, Stacey and I talked for over an hour and I never got back to the cardigan. I plan on working on it today after I clean a little...very little! :o) I re-read the pattern and it's so well written that it will be a pleasure to knit. I hope to have it finished by fall. I know that's a long ways off but I do work full time so my knitting hours are squeezed in whenever possible. I'll post a picture once I actually have a piece of knitting to show...I doubt you want to see the one row! I am off to the vet to pick up Summer's meds. Then I will stop at the new Dollar Tree that just opened a mile from my house. I need a gift bag for my mom's birthday present, the socks and a pretty blanket I bought her. After all the "chores" are done...it's knitting time!

I Had A Blast!

I had a great time at Stitch and Pitch on Sunday. Good friends, Twins baseball, lots of knitting, and an air-conditioned bus ride to The Dome. Who could ask for more? I must eat my words (cough, choke, sputter!!) the Twins did NOT kick The LA Angels behind as I had predicted. In fact, they sort of got the snot kicked out of them...final score, 7 to 2, LA. It was a good game even if the Twins couldn't get a hit to save their hides. We had seats in the upper deck behind home plate so the view was pretty good. It was amazing to see all the knitters sitting together and working on their projects. I wish I had a count of how many knitters were actually there, I'm sure it was in the mid-hundreds or higher. But the best part of the day was when my friends sang on TV...yes, sang! Thanks to the bold and talented Janet (still blogless!) who wrote a song that is sung to the tune of Take Me Out to the Ball Game. She sang it on the bus ride to The Dome and who should be on the bus, but a lady whose husband is the media director for The Dome. She whips out her cell phone and calls him and tells him about the singing knitter, Janet. Once we get to the game, the husband decides that the singing knitter should be on TV! Janet of course begs Joyce and I to sing with her...NO THANK YOU! First, I can't sing worth a dang, second, I certainly don't want to be seen, not being able to sing, on TV. But sweet and wonderful Janet manages to snare, I mean, cajole some others in the group to sing with her. Brave souls. Above is a photo I managed to take while they were waiting to be taped for their national singing debut. Too funny! My hats off to all of you who had enough guts to get up there and sing the praises of knitting for all to enjoy!

Another great thing about going to Stitch and Pitch was that I actually knit for a couple hours and finished my moms birthday socks. Yippy! I made it with 6 days to spare, a record for me! They turned out very pretty, I will take a picture of them before they are gifted. Now that I have the socks done I am going to start the cardigan. The weather here in Minneapolis is brutally hot. Today the heat index is going to be near 100 degrees and tomorrow it's going to be over 100! I truly hate the heat. Give me a snowy blizzard and cold any day compared to this steamy, oppressive heat. But then again, come January I may eat those words. At least in January I will have a nice wool cardigan to slip into and stay toasty warm!

I am going to be a Gramma again! My daughter Stacey and her husband Jon are in the process of applying to adopt a baby boy from Guatemala. We will know today for sure what little guy they pick and the paper chase will begin. Luckily, they have all their paper work in order for their second China adoption so they are pretty much done with the time consuming, putsy stuff. They will leave their application for another girl from China active. Since the wait time for China is now 3 years, they decided to adopt a son between the 2 girls. I am so excited for them...and me too! Guatemala works the opposite way from China in their adoption process. For China you apply, do all the months of paper work, then wait. Months later (now it's years later) you get a "referral" photo and info on your child. You accept, or decline, the referral. After acceptance you get ready to travel to China in about 4-6 weeks where you will stay for 2 weeks and pick up your child. With Guatemala you get the referral first, then do all the paper work, wait 4-6 months and travel there for 3 days to pick up your child. It is faster and much less waiting time. The really fun option is...you can go visit you child whenever you want! They get to stay with you for the whole visit. Since Stacey and Jon only live 2 hours (flight time!) from Guatemala City, they plan on visiting their son at least once before they go to bring him home. I'll have pictures soon so check back to see my new grandson!

Snappy Title

As you can see by the title of this post...I'm having trouble finding something to write about. As far as my knitting, I am still working on the socks for my mom and the test socks for Jean Townsend. I will be bringing these to Stitch and Pitch on Sunday when I watch the Minnesota Twins kick the butt of the LA Angels! Hopefully. Keep your fingers crossed that the weather isn't too hot since we are all riding to the Dome in a school bus, without any air conditioning! Should be great fun!

What to write, what to write...I guess my life is pretty ordinary and I haven't got anything exciting to tell all of blogdom. Which is probably a good thing. I did just finish Dean Koontz's newest book "The Good Guy". It was good, fast moving, and suspenseful. I am reading another of his now called "The Husband", which I just started so I can't really say how it is. My friend Joyce read it and loved it, and since I trust her opinion, I'm sure it will be great. Now...who out there has read "Water for Elephants"? This book has me a bit perplexed. No, I haven't even read it and I may never read it. The perplexing thing is what people perceive as a "good" book. I read for entertainment, enjoyment, and fun. I have heard that Water for Elephants is awesome, couldn't put it down, loved it! AND, I've also heard it's, depressing, dark, sad, and , as one person put it...about as enjoyable as a bad toothache. Will I read it? Doubtful. Why would I spend my time reading something that doesn't make me feel good, leaves me sad, and has nothing happy or uplifting to offer? I know, I know, broaden my literary horizons, but I don't like to read a book just for the sake of being able to say...yes, I read the popular Water for Elephants. I'd rather spend those few hours of reading on a fluffy romance, or a good murder mystery (Faye Kellerman, Patricia Cornwell, Dean Koontz, Jeffrey Deaver, etc). In fairness to myself...I did read The Kite Runner! It was good, a bit depressing and sad, but good. Why is it that book clubs and Oprah (whoever decided she was the literary queen?) always lean towards dark, forlorn, and unhappy reading? Do they feel it makes them more intelligent, or that they come away from that book a better person? I don't buy it! There's enough bad happening in the world today...I sure as hell don't need to read a novel that embraces all the evils around us. Nope, give me the fun books, and the happy ending books, and the suspense thrillers. I want to read to enjoy it and maybe, just maybe, every year or two I'll read one of those "popular" bleak and depressing, annoyingly unhappy, books that we're told are superb. Or better yet, I'll watch the news and hear enough dismal stories that I won't have to subject myself to reading it!

I am going, with my mother and aunt, to my future nieces house today for lunch. It will be nice to sit with the "ladies" and chat and enjoy a bite to eat. Then tonight is our monthly Knit2Gather which is always enjoyable. Since it is the middle of vacation time (June-August) for Minnesotans, and it's been brutally hot, the turnout may be a bit weak tonight. You just never know. Either way, it's always good to get together with fellow knitters. If you live in the Minneapolis area and could join us we'd love to have your company! Just e-mail me for info and directions.

Same Old, Same Old

The 4th of July has passed and now it seems that summer is on the downward slide towards fall. I'm not complaining, I love the autumn season and look forward to it every year. It's at this time of year I feel like I'm in a slump, the same way I feel in the middle of January. I think I need a new knitting project to help me over the summer blues slump. Like just maybe, I should actually cast on for the purple cardigan instead of just talking about it! I have been chugging along on my mom's birthday socks and they are almost done. I will definitely have them done and in the gift bag, not just a promissory note telling her she's going to get some socks...someday! I am also working on the socks for Jean Townsend. I volunteered to test knit them and I am really enjoying the pattern.

My daughter Stacey and her Husband Jon, along with the beautiful grandaughter Mia, just returned from a trip to the Turks and Caicos Islands. They actually went to a place called Sesame Street Island! Who would ever figure that Cookie Monster and Elmo live in the Bahamas? Those lucky little furballs! They had a great time and above is a picture of them with one of the ginormous Sesame Street characters. Stacey said they had a good time and that the vacation was all-inclusive so all they did was eat and eat! Sounds like my kind of place!

My sweet friend Janet (who is STILL blogless) is taking me to "Stitch and Pitch" on July 22nd for my birthday. What is Stitch and Pitch you ask?! Well, the easiest way to explain that is to check out their website here. I will be going to the Minnesota Twins game, and luckily for Janet, I like baseball! We are really looking forward to it. We will take a chartered bus from the local yarn store (Coldwater in Excelsior) and some of our friends from our knitting group will be joining us. Should be a great day! Knitting, baseball, friends, who could ask for more? Let's all keep our fingers crossed that it's not hot that day since the big yellow bus has no AC.

Well, I guess I've sat on my fanny long enough and should get up and get my hacienda cleaned. Wednesdays are cleaning day for me and I am fortunate enough to have a beautiful, cool, summer day here in the Twin Cities! Once I get the dog hair swept and vacuumed and the bathrooms cleaned I just may cast on that wonderful Lisa Lloyd cardigan. Wonders never cease!


Update: While I was cleaning I decided that I needed to do a small "brag". I was dusting my Hoosier (a kitchen cupboard originally designed and manufactured in Indiana at the turn of the century around 1900) and realized just how much my antiques mean to me. Not in a monetary sense but in the knowledge of the traditions they represent. I love old things, I am an old thing! I have collected antiques since I first got married many years ago and they still thrill me to no end! If I was given $10,000.00 and told to buy furniture with it...I would head to the antique malls and the flea markets. I know that there are lots of people who look upon these aged treasures as junk, but not me! I love everything about them. They are a glimpse into our past, they carry marks and scars on their surface that someone caused years ago. They are personal, they belonged to someone before me and they have a history. I find that all fascinating and I feel privileged to own these pieces. Yup, my house is filled with someone else's things, maybe others would refer to them as "secondhand" but I prefer to call them mine for now. Someday they will go to my children and I can only hope that they will respect and treasure them as much as I do. The Hoosier cupboard is probably my favorite piece I own. It was given to me by my Aunt Ruth and it was literally "in pieces". I refinished it, I rebuilt it, I even reassembled the roll-top. It now sits proudly on a wall between my dining room and living room for all to admire. I don't know how many women loved that old cupboard in the past, but I do know that it is loved now, and I hope it will be loved long after I am gone.

Bundt Pan Love

Yup, I love my Bundt pan. Maybe they were popular more than 30 years ago, but I still love mine...even in 2007. My original Bundt pan is long gone. It was a Nordicware Bundt, a lovely (not!) olive green, and served me well for many years. In it's place is a sleek grey Bundt pan with a super non-stick coating that assures every cake or bread will pop right out...whole! Why do I love my Bundt pan? Simple, it works. It cooks quick breads or cakes evenly since the heat can circulate into the center. The cakes look awesome plated. Nothing prettier than a fancy looking Bundt cake on a pretty plate to impress the diners. It's easy to cut uniform pieces with very little breakage. Come on...you know I'm right. We all know what that first piece of cake looks like that you tried to pry out of the corner of a 9x13 inch cake pan. And most of all, it's a fun way to bake and serve your families favorites! Today my little Bundt pan got to be the happy bake ware for a new recipe I tried. I had printed this recipe off the net awhile ago, but couldn't seem to remember to buy the dang evaporated milk it called for. I made a list...since this bread calls for cream cheese and evaporated milk. The bread just came out of the oven and I "painted" the lemon/sugar wash over it and now I'm waiting for it to cool enough to taste test! Smells good, looks good, I think it will taste good! Be sure to check out the Nordicware website. They have some interesting recipes, contests, and best of all...the history of the famous Bundt Pan. Anyway, here's the recipe I tried sans the pecans. Nuts just didn't sound like they belonged. Plus, no one here likes nuts in anything sweet...cookies, brownies, etc. The recipe is called Lemon Cream Bread. All right...I couldn't wait any longer. I just ate a slice and I would call the finished result...divine! Very good. The bread has a nice texture: dense, moist but not crumbly. The flavor is excellent. I probably should confess that I substituted lemon juice for the 1/4 cup of water the recipe calls for. We like our lemon recipes to actually taste like LEMON! This will be a hit with all but the hubby. He doesn't like anything lemon...oh well, his loss.

Tomorrow is the 4th of July! Happy Birthday to the USA! The greatest place on Mother Earth! Yes, we've got our problems, but there still isn't any better place to be than here. I still live by the old saying "America, love her, or leave her." Like my daughter is quick to point out after living in third world countries for 5 years, "Americans have no idea what it's like to truly be poor, or needy. Our poorest citizens are rich by most of the world's standards. We are truly blessed and don't usually appreciate how lucky we are." She is a teacher and taught in the Middle East and Africa before she got married. She saw it all, and it has given her a new appreciation for all we have in our country. So let's all say a prayer for our country and her leaders, and remember to be thankful that we are citizens of the United States of America.