Another contest to win a free hotsling

http://holdmenear.com/store/index.php?main_page=index

Anyone else need a vacation from their vacation?

Well, it's been 3 days since I returned home from our 9 day family cruise. There were 14 of us and it was hectic!! I can't see over the pile of laundry that needs to be put away--at least almost everything is cleaned (still need to make a run to the dry cleaners). Cruising with a toddler is..... different, to say the least. It certainly is not as relaxing as our cruises past, but it was fun to see things through her eyes. Since DD had just learned to walk 3 weeks before we left, she was still a bit of a novice, and that made me on edge the whole time. She took 3 major spills, the first one before we even left port! But she recovered just fine and it has not deterred her one bit! I managed to read one book while we were away (The Nanny Diaries--beware, I did not think it was nearly as funny as I have heard. In fact, I found it disturbing and sad), but I barely knit. I don't know why I didn't get to do any knitting. It just didn't happen. I did get to be a bit creative, though. They held scrapbooking classes, which I attended as much as possible, and arts and crafts classes. The one class I really enjoyed was making a beaded bookmark. Let's just hope for all our sake I don't get addicted to that, too. Although I am taking my nieces to the local bead store tomorrow to make some jewelry http://www.redbankbeadcompany.com/

Anyway, we woke up every morning and all DD would say was "Water, water, water" and she would pop herself up on the ledge by the porthole and sit herself down and watch the waves. She had a difficult time sitting still during dinner (who am I kidding, I found it hard to sit still for 2 hours, too!) and we would all take turns bringing her outside the restaurant to walk back and forth and back and forth. I guess that was a major advantage to having a large group with us--many entertainers!

So it is a few days until I close the contest for the sock yarn. I definitely have not made up my mind who the winners are, so there's still time to join in the contest. I hope everyone will be pleased with their yarn and happy knitting!

Check out this link to win a free hotsling!

http://www.alongfortheride.biz/pages/PlayGamesWinPrizes.php

Shopaholic!!

Well, it's a few days before our cruise, and I find myself shopping like crazy!! I don't know what's gotten into me, but everything I buy seems to be something we need terribly (OK, except for the few toys I bought for DD, but they were all on sale--how could I resist?). It must be the stress of getting ready and not knowing how the vacation will go. I even went back on my word and started another project off my USO list. I'm ashamed, really. I have justified it with the fact that I want/need to bring only small projects on the cruise and everything seems to have a lot of yarn to go with it. I am bringing along the beaded scarf kit, which can be seen here: http://www.swallowhillcreations.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=37&products_id=70 . I chose a lovely shade of pink rayon and clear crystals, which sparkle like diamonds on it. I only have a few rows done, but I am already liking how it will turn out. It is tedious, though, so I hope I won't get frustrated by it while I am away with nothing else to knit--maybe I should pack a back up....

I am so happy that my SNB group is going to have a nighttime get-together that is close enough to me. I hope to make this a regular occasion and actually get a significant amount of knitting done. It will also be good to just get away for a night--I need that now and then. It never ceases to amaze me how much more refreshed I am when I come back from being away from everyone for a little bit. I think it makes me a better mom, and a better wife, when I get some alone time. I know everyone tells you that you should be selfish and have a time set aside for yourself, but it's hard to do. You get caught up with cleaning, taking care of the baby, washing clothes, cooking and a million other mundane errands and chores. It's hard to get away, but then when I do...watch out! I am going like a mile a minute--shopping, knitting, whatever it may be. So that is my piece of advice for tonight--take time out for yourself--you do have the right to be selfish. In fact, I made a pact with myself after my DD was born, that they only people I will knit for is myself and my daughter. Up until now, I have mostly given everything away that I knit. I have nothing to show for all my hard work, etc, and I don't think anyone has even bothered to send me a picture of them wearing/using the knitted gifts I have given them anyway. So, for all of you that want permission to do it, I say "Be selfish" 'cuz noone is going to do it for you!

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!

Hi all!

Wow!! It seems as if my contest has worked--I have visitors now :-) Come on in and make yourself comfy!! I'm so glad you all stopped by. I will be leaving the contest open until the end of July--good luck and pass the word! I am so honored that everyone has come forward with all their UFO's, WIP's, USO's and TOADS--for some people this is the first time they are putting that out in the open, and I, for one, am proud of you!

On our trip Sunday out to Wyomissing PA (what a lovely town, BTW) for a baby shower, I brought along my triangular shawl made from the Trendsetter yarns. I pulled it out after I sung DD to sleep in the backseat, and started to get busy. I figured in the 2 hour ride (which was longer than that thanks to NJ Turnpike traffic!) I could make some serious progress, even close to finish it. However, the yarn gods were not with me on that trip. About 1 1/2 rows in, one of the yarns came to a grinding halt and I pulled it from my bag--it is horribly tangled on itself within a yarn bra and I could not do anything with it while we were driving. I hope I am able to salvage it, the yarn was quite expensive and I doubt the same dye lot will be there when I go back--I can't even remember when I bought this project! Oh ladies of the yarn--please think of me as I detangle this yarn tonight--chant helpful and nice things for me, that the yarn and I will make it out alive and friends.

It was a busy day today--my parents came over and we all went to my SIL's house for a party--an all day party! It was a gathering of all the people going on our upcoming cruise in 10 days. We are going in celebration of my nieces 16th birthday, and it is going to be a wild time, I can tell! DH and I finally decided on one excursion--the America's cup race in St. Maarten. For DH, it will be a fun time, for me it will be in honor of my uncle--who would have been proud (and jealous) of me sailing on an America's cup boat. I hope I get to do something cool on there, like raise a sail or something equally important. Even more exciting is the prospect that it is a race and we will be competing against another boat--that brings out my competitive side. Ahh, now I just need to pack....................

A busy day....a hectic week

Hi all. It's been a week (or two) of ups and downs, mostly down.

It's July 4th weekend and we spent the day cleaning up around the house. For some inane reason I decided to clean out my husband's side of the closet. I just couldn't take the disorganization any more!! LOL I still have to do my side of the closet yet, but I somehow feel better knowing his side is cleaner...I have a nice big bag of clothes to donate and that's just from DH. I've already taken a few bags from my clothes and DD's closet--of course she is constantly growing out of things, I just make monthly donations there. I do give a lot of her clothes to a friend who recently had a baby girl, but there are still clothes left to donate.

I've also been playing around with the new family tree software that I got on Thursday (Family Tree Maker 2006 Deluxe). It's crazy how caught up in it you can get and lose hours of time searching on the internet. I am just trying to take what my uncle had done a little further and add my dad's side of the family and DH's side of the family on to it, so that DD will have a complete history when she grows up.

I am especially sensitive to maintaining family connections and keeping all our family history documented as we lost another family member last week. My uncle finally lost his battle with lung cancer. The fact the he is gone is still amazing to me and hard to believe. As a child, my uncle was always a "larger than life" figure, with a deep voice, sarcastic wit, a great storytelling ability and such an easygoing personality. As an adult I can appreciate that he worked hard and played hard, climbing to the top of his industry working for Siemens on only a high school degree, a kid at heart when he was on his boat being the captain and made such a great whiskey sour (still one of my most favorite drinks). He was also a volunteer in the same first aid squad that I volunteered for and I was so proud to have him as my uncle. So it is in his name that I continue on the search for our family tree and every time I have a whiskey sour, I will hoist the glass in the air and think of him.