My adventures to find a home in Houston.....

Well, I am not quite home yet but when I do get home it will be a whirlwind of activity for a while that I am not sure when I will be posting on the blog.

For those that are not aware of it yet, though I have no clue how you wouldn't be lol, I am finally going back home to my beloved Texas!!!

Bear and I left West Virginia on the afternoon of October 30th heading to Houston by way of family visits. First stop was at Bear's brothers in Bluefield, Virginia. We celebrated Halloween night with them. We stayed there until November 1st (Saturday) and then started the LOOOONG trip to his mom's in Leesville, Louisiana.

Got there on Sunday afternoon and had a wonderful visit overnight with her. Once we get moved down there, she will be planning to teach me to can stuff. That is a dying art.... Canning. I can not wait to learn that lost way of life!!! She is only about 3.5 hours from Houston so I will plan a weekend each month to get my "lessons".

We finally got to the end of our 1400 mile trip on Monday (the 3rd) around noon. That gave us just enough time to have our ritual Whataburger (those who read this who live in Texas do not need an explanation of a Whataburger, but those that don't ... it's the best burger ever! lol) and a quick visit with my family before we headed off to see the first house of many. We ended up seing 6 houses in 2 hours. Can you tell we knew what we were looking for lol!?!

We liked the first one (isn't that always the way) so we had to wait to get the yes or no from the owner. Two days later we find out that it was already rented so back out we went. Looked at two more and decided the 1st of those two was the one we wanted. It had a pool as well so it would be a nice one. We got lucky on that one as we were told late Thursday afternoon that we got that one! Signed the lease on Friday morning. Just in time to relax for a few hours before my nephews wedding.

This is my Grandmother. I think this is a wonderful picture of her that I took! I hope to be a beautiful as she is when I am 83!

What a wedding! It was at a bed and breakfast in the Heights (a part of Houston) that I had no idea was there. As we are waiting for the wedding to begin, we hear squealing tires and a crash. Turns out someone wanted to see how far a bike would fly lol. The person on the bicycle was okay but it gave us a wonderful flashing light behind the alter. It was a muted light so wasn't all that bad. LOL!

This is Bodie (I am not sure if that's how they spell his name though) and he is Michael and Libby's "son". As you can see he was part of the wedding since his Mommy and Daddy were tying the knot! LOL! He is such a sweetie! Don't you just love his Texas Flag bow tie???

Here is my sister and I. What a pair!

Here is the bride and groom, Libby and Michael. This is my oldest of two nephews and I am absolutely thrilled to be able to add a niece in to the mix finally! We all love Libby and she is the perfect fit for Michael. I don't think we could have asked for a better wife for him! She will keep him in line!

This is my sister, Shannon, and her family (pre-wedding). That is Christopher (my youngest nephew), Bert (Shannon's hubs), Michael and Bodie. Isn't that a great looking family?

The deal has be sealed! No backing out now! LOL!

I will be putting more pictures on my photobucket in the next few days, so be sure to look for them.

Bear ended up "enjoying" the wine just a tad much and was, errr "slightly" hung over the next morning lol. As we were planning to leave like by 8 am to head back, this put a small hold on that. LOL! It wasn't until almost 11 before he felt well enough to start packing the car up only to find that we somehow picked up a nail in the back drivers tire and had to go get it fixed lol. So that added to the delay in getting on the road. We finally were able to head out about 12:30, with me at the wheel so he could continue to "rest" a while longer lol.

As I said earlier, we are back at my brother in laws until tomorrow morning when we finish the long drive home. I am so glad to know that we will only be making that drive one more time back to Houston for the move. It is LONG!

I did work on a few projects while traveling. I made a scarf that I gave to my sister and two "wraps". They were too short to be a scarf so just sewed the ends together so that it was more like a wrap. These will be for April, of course. She can leave it hanging or wrap it again for a neck wrap.

I also worked on the bath rag some and my double moose. I will get pictures of the double moose soon. I took a lot of projects but mostly just read books instead of knitting lol.

I am sure there are things I am completely forgetting but this is long enough as it is lol.

I hope you enjoyed it.

The time between the last post and today....

Well, I did say I wouldn't post daily lol. This just proves that my life is as boring as I said. The time being spent between the last post and today hasn't been real productive lol.

October 12th was my grandson's 2nd birthday and so we went to that and thoroughly enjoyed seeing him have a blast. He is getting so big! We will miss him when we are gone!

He LOVED his little couch we got him. We are told he constantly sits on it!

I have gotten a few siggies in the mail but not that many. They are all cherished no matter what though.

I did spend 30 minutes on the sewing machine (much to my friend Molly's happiness and disappointment that it was ONLY 30 minutes lol) making some tater bags. My mother in law requested an extra bag as she uses the one I gave her a year or two ago constantly. She goes to the lake on the weekend and so she has to remember to bring the bag back and forth from home to the lake. So I made 3 bags since they are so easy! I sent one to a good friend of mine in California by the name of Cyn F. She is the one that sent me the "gone quilting" thing at the beginning of my blogging.

I also made some siggies for a special brother of a special person on one of the lists I am on. I even had Bear actually sign one for him. That is not normal... he does NOT do things like that lol.

I don't see me getting back to sewing until after the 1st of the year if all goes right. I will be leaving for a trip to Houston on the 31st and will not be back until the 10th and hopefully will be packing the house up as of the 11th to be heading back to Houston as of the end of November. So, sewing does NOT seem feasible till after the 1st of the year!

I am knitting though.... I have not done much to my Lover's Knot afghan. Just a few more rows.

I have started a palindrome cable scarf that is the same on either side. There isn't a front or back side. This is to go with the hat that I already did. It is in the same Plum color as it. The only thing left to do for the set when this is done is the "smoking" gloves. I was asked to make a black pair for a friend of hers so I will probably do both of them at the same time. These will be fantastic projects for the trip!

I am making what I affectionately call the "double moose" hat for April. My buddy Cyn got me involved with this.... this is the first time I have ever worked with unspun thread. This is an experience! Ignore the pink around the edges as that is just my "invisible" cast on. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know... not very invisible, but it won't be there when I'm done! LOL!

The other project I am working on right now is a set of Mary Jane slippers. Another first for me. Right now... I am not crazy about them but we will see..... If I end up liking them I will make another set or two for my sister. But as I said... we will see lol.

Just thought I would throw in a picture of my "boys" for the ending.... until next time.........

What a productive weekend....

Well, my weekend was very productive! I made 4 fun fur scarves, finished the pink and black scarf, made my October birthday siggies and have them waiting to go into the mail tomorrow, and prepped some regular siggie blocks as well as got 3 done to mail out as well as a return for siggies I received. I even bought more yarn (like I need it lol) for the socks I plan to get started on lol.

I also received 3 siggies on Saturday as well. Jackie Vogel, Lori Marchbanks and Ulla Karlson.

These are the fun fur scarves. I have a funny (now it's funny but it wasn't at the time) story about the red and green ones... you see, normally you would use 2 skeins at once, which was fine for the blue one. Then, the chocolate one had more yardage in the skeins so it was longer. Well, the red and green was almost double the size of the blue one. So I had started to re"skein" them when about half way through I realized this fact! Well.... I decided to "undo" the combining. Bad idea! This is what happens when you try that.... LOL!

It took me ALL DAY Saturday to untangle the tangles! Will NOT do that again!!! LOL!

Here is the pink and black scarf that is FINALLY done! The black section done in the seed stitch was soooooo boring lol! Now to get started on a few more scarves. The oldest stepdaughter has requested some scarves as well now. So I have more to make. LOL!

We even started up the bikes! Alas, that is ALL we did. We did not get on them to ride but that is okay! Soon!!!

Well, that is the update for my weekend. Hope you had a great one!

Another boring installment of my life lol....

Well, it's been a few days so I thought I would put another "installment" out for the world to go to sleep with....

Bear is back in town so I have not really been doing much. I am working on the scarf and have finally gotten to the other side and am doing the 2nd color now so it won't be much longer before it will be done. Then I can start on a new project lol!

I did get some new siggies this week. 1 is my very first Christmas siggie from Laura Lamb! She also sent me a one on one as well.

The other 2 siggies were also one on one siggies from the international swap I belong to. The are from Kerstin Holma and Laura Bruttini.

All I can say is those oversea ladies really are talented! They put soooo much attention to detail in their siggies that I really hate to send mine out that are just stamped and signed. I feel like mine are so plain compared to theirs! LOL! If you want to see bigger photos of them go to my photobucket site and they will be there.

I thought I would post a few pictures of my darling grandson Dillon who will be 2 this month! Sheesh, where has the time gone! That is his Aunt April with him. The recipient of the many scarves I have been making!

Here are some random shots! Just a few of my bears. Notice the big one in the bottom left. I got him when I got my V-Star motorcycle, which is in the next picture. I almost have a boy scout mentality! I am always prepared! This was for the "God Bless America" Ride for the VA Hospital here in Martinsburg. We get there and have a few hours before it starts so I am always ready with a book and an umbrella so that I do overheat or get sunburned more than necessary lol! The other picture is proof that I corrupted my sister when she came for a visit! This was her fist experience with slot machines and she had a blast!

This is of my family at Hershey Park in Hershey, Pennsylvania. They figured this would be the only time they would get to go there and to the Crayola Factory in Easton, PA since I would be moving back to Texas and there would be no reason for another trip back up here after that lol! That is my mom, sister and grandmother. It was a great trip!

Thank you for stopping by. I will post again eventually. Have a great day until then!

What I am working on.....

Well... Just in case anyone is wondering what exactly I may be doing to make the day go by here it is....

My dear hubby, Bear (nickname, not his real name lol), swears I have ADD, my sister calls it "distractability". I like to think I have such a creative mind that I can't just sit still! Now the thing that gets me... is that all the creativity my mind is doing must be going to someone else as I am not ending up with it in my thoughts lol! But I just have to keep busy. I am a reader, crafter, gamer, etc... I have way to much to do and not enough time to do it lol!

If I am reading, I usually have the TV or music on in the background. If I am watching TV, I usually have the laptop up with either chat, emails or a game going. If I don't have the laptop on my lap, I have either a cross stitch project or knitting project going. I tell ya, I can't just sit and do one thing lol! Drives Bear nuts!

I am in a sewing slump right now! To the point that I can't even look at the sewing machine at this time. Which means my quilt projects are just gathering dust along with the machine. The sad thing is... my sewing machine is in my living room at this time. So I have to listen to it cry from neglect and see the sad face it gives me. *Sigh* I will eventually get back to it. I promise!

In the mean time, here's what has kept me from going nuts... lol....

I learned to knit in October 2006 at the young age of 41. I have fallen in love with knitting! It does take me forever to finish things sometimes lol. Took me almost as long to finish a pair of socks. Just got them done about a month ago. "Distractability" remember lol. If something takes a long time, I get bored and will start something new, then come back to the other thing.

Any way, I have at least 2 projects going on in my knitting right now. I just finished my first hat. I am not really happy with it but live and learn! The hat is part of a set that I plan to do for my stepdaughter April. It will be a hat, scarf and gloves in the same yarn. She loves scarves and I have gone a bit crazy making scarves left and right for her. You can see all the scarves and stuff I have knitted already on my photobucket site. http://photobucket.com/steffinid

This is the hat. Like I said, I am not all that thrilled with it but it will do!

The other thing I am working on for April is a scarf. I am at the part that I am bored with the same stitch over and over and over.... hence the hat being done! LOL! I work on it and try to do a few rows at a time but it is boring lol. I don't have far to go to do the other end and that part will go fairly quick. The camera doesn't do the colors justice though. The hat is a plum color and the scarf is a hot pink (color says watermelon) and black.

The last knitting project I am working on is an afghan called Lovers Knot. I got the pattern from Lionbrand.com. That is the first place I look for new patterns. I saw this and fell in love with it. It is going to be an ongoing project and I will take pictures of it from time to time to let anyone that is interested in the progress see. I have learned to do new stitches from both the afghan and the scarf. I love learning the new stitches and mastering them. Bear picked the neutral color saying it was nice. It is called Lace. Why? I don't know lol! Cream, Ecru or beige, I could see... Lace... no! LOL!

The other project I am working, and have been for about 4 years, is a cross stitch pattern for Bear. I have been cross stitching for more years than I care to count lol! I think it was the first "craft" I did. My mom taught me when I was young and it's something I've always had around one way or another. This pattern is called Gettysburg. The main reason I have been working on it for so long is I went to work for 2 years lol. Then for the last 2, quilting has taken over for any kind craft until about 4 months ago when the knitting bug bit me again. This is the next to last that I had planned for Bear. Again... I will update photos on occasion.

Well, that's it for today! Hope you are still awake! Have a great crafty day!