(almost) Munchkin Free Monday

Happy Memorial day!

Who has really big plans today? Anyone do anything fun over the weekend? Well I like to spend the time at the beach, or poolside, at a barbeque, or some other fun social event surrounded by friends, sun, laughter, and lots of great memories to be made!


Today, I am going to see Roo for a few hours so that R&S can have a lunch date to celebrate S's birthday. But before that I am going to go sit at the beach, and read. And afterward, I will be going to a friends house to enjoy some grilled goodies by the pool. It should be a good day :)

Enjoy your holiday!

SoTW

This week's snack is hummus, with chips, carrot sticks, and cucumber spears for dipping.


Hummus is a good source of protein, it is made from chick peas and oil, plus whatever you want to flavor it with. You can buy it or easily make it by pureeing the above ingredients with things like roasted garlic, roasted veggies, cilantro and citrus, sun dried tomatoes, etc.

You can dip all kinds of things in it. I love cucumber spears, they are crisp and refreshing. Carrots are crunchy. Pita chips, torn up pita bread, are great, or you can spread it on a nice piece of sourdough.

This week's snack gives you a good bump of energy to get you through the afternoon, and a good way to get in a veggie or two! Enjoy this refreshing summery delight!

Happy Snacking :)

1,000 Rubber Duckies

Last weekend, I had Roo for a few hours on Saturday, and the town was having it's annual Ducky Derby. A local school for children with disabilities hold the event at the River, and people can come, buy tickets, at enjoy the festivities. So we bought our ticket (every duck has a number on it's tail feathers), and we watched them drop 1,000 rubber ducks into the water. They have to try to be the first to make it to the end, and if your duck is first second or third, you get to take home a trophy, if not, you trade in your ticket for a souvenir rubber ducky to take home.

I had never been before, but it was very cool to see so many yellow ducks and their reflections going along with the currents. At about the halfway point there was a family of geese out for a swim, and they were very curious about all the rubber duckies too. While the mommy goose led the babies safely onto shore, the daddy goose hissed and tried to scare the inanimate objects away. Very cute (unless you were the papa goose)!


Oh, yea... Roo had a good time too! :)

FO turned WIP

(that's finished object turned work in progress for all you non-knitters)



Last year I decided to make a sweater for my bff Laura. I finished it in time for Christmas, however the size was much to large for her skinny mini frame! Sense I bought the yarn with Laura specifically in mind, I decided to frog it (rip-it, rip-it) and make something that fits her. I also did not want to make the same sweater again, not only because it would be boring, but also because it was a combination of three different patterns, and I don't want to re-do the math!!


Here is the progress on the new sweater...


I'm moving on up the back piece. The pattern is from Interweave Knits spring issue. It is the Double V Cardigan, from their section on "New Lace". It is a simple laced repeat, and because I have been loving lace lately, it is perfect. So everyone cross your fingers that it fits this time, because if it doesn't, I'm done trying. I actually did swatch for gauge before casting on, so it should turn out ok..


Happy Knitting!

Snack of the week

Finally a new snack post!

What do you do when your fruit reaches that point just past ripeness, when it's just a little too mushy to eat, but you don't want to through it out because produce is expensive? Cube it up, and toss it into the blender with some ice.. voila! Fruit Smoothie:


This smoothie contains strawberries, a banana(I know, I don't like bananas themselves, but they are okay for certain purposes like a smoothie), pineapple, and ice. You are getting some of your fruits knocked out for the day, and enjoying a filling and nutritiously refreshing afternoon treat!

Enjoy!

Thanks is long overdue

A while back, miss Channon mailed me a package, and I am just now blogging it. It contained a little something for me, and a little something for Charlie.



The goodies included gourmet doggie treats, A very big and according to the way it was eaten, very yummy bone, and for me, Chocolate Mint tea, and an aluminium water bottle with sunflowers (my favorite flower) on it. I have no clue how she knew they are the ones I love the most, but she knew. She also included the last book of the Melanie Travis Mystery Series. I am on book #3 right now, and so far so good. They have just enough suspense, love, and laughter to please just about anyone.

My heart was so warmed by the card that Chan lovingly wrote, that I popped in to have a cup of tea with her! Virtually of course, because unfortunately nobody has come up with the technology to allow us to apparate from one place to another place hundreds of miles away. Which is unfortunate.

What is not unfortunate, is knowing that you are surrounded with a wonderful network of genuinely great people, wether they are down the street, down the coast, or on the opposite side of the continent. When life gives you lemons, it isn't always easy to squeeze them into lemonade without the love and support of good friends. Thanks Channon, and everyone else in my support web. I have been leaning a lot this month, and I appreciate you all helping to keep me up!

Teething Munchkin

Roo is teething like you wouldn't believe. This kid is great, don't get me wrong, but he's really putting a damper on me ever wanting to have kids, because every baby goes through it, all a little differently, but if even one of my children were to teeth like Roo, I would hate being a mother... not good.

He has been whiny and crying and grouchy for all of last week and a little of the week before! Everything goes in the mouth, and we are putting a lot of his toys in the freezer.

Sense he isn't wanting to be put down very much (and I'm doing it anyway because he needs to not get to comfortable with the royal treatment of never being put down), and he likes to keep moving, swaying, bouncing etc. I'm limited to holding him, putting him in the bouncer, or putting him in the stroller and taking him for a walk. Which we do everyday anyhow, but the limitation of activities is getting old fast.


The stroller is a good one though, and as you can see he still has his teether-toy shoved in his mouth. Hopefully he will have grown a tooth over the weekend, and today will be good, but if not, I scheduled a playdate for my friend who is also a nanny of a baby to come over and walk with us. Her baby is teething too... boo.

Here's hoping for a happy Munchkin Monday!

Walking for Cancer

One of the local hospitals is holding a charity walk/run tomorrow morning (5/15) to support their cancer wing. It is a good cause and they are holding it at the beach so in addition to feeling good about helping out, we get to enjoy the scenery. I've even talked the man into coming with me...of course that meant that I had to sign him up, and cover the registration fee in the process. I guess I'll let him keep the shirt they give us, I don't need two, and he can take me to a movie after we walk.


So if you live locally and you want to attend, you can register on site starting at 10am. The 5K run starts at 11am, and the 3K walk starts at noon. It is through Norwalk Hospital, and will be held at Calf Pasture Beach in Norwalk.

Finished Object Report

Can you believe it?! I actually finished something!

This is my Sunflower Top! The pattern is "Coquette Lace Top" from the book Fitted Knits. The problem is that if I wouldn't have added shaping, it wouldn't have fit very well at all. The Yarn is Rowan's Purelife Organic Cotton, in a lovely shade of yellow. Needles: Addi Turbo's in size 5. I tend to be a size up in my gauge, so I try to always knit a size down in the needles. (Does anybody like swatching for gauge?) The yarn was fabulous to work with, it is a great lightweight yarn that will wear wonderfully in the summer season..I cannot wait! The ribbon goes in to help keep the top up, and can be changed out if I want a different look. I bought the yellow ribbon at a local craft store, but didn't love it, so I bought the purple velvet ribbon from M&J Trimmings in NYC.


It was a pretty quick and easy top, the lace repeat is simple enough... I knit the first time around it only took me 2 weeks of non-stop knitting to knit from start to finish; but after frogging it and re-knitting it with the added shaping and the appropriate size, it knit up in another month.

Tasty Breakfast

How about some blueberry pancakes? I've never been a big fan of pancakes, I'm more for french toast or waffles, but I bought some pancake mix and added the necessary ingredients, plus blueberries. Cooked them up, then topped them with real maple syrup. Yum.


*And someone gave me a tip that pancakes freeze well, and then you can toast them just like ego's.. so I ate two, and froze the rest. Easy breakfast for later on. Great start to the day!

Tummy Time on Deck

When the weather is good, we are happy! Here's hoping for more (not super hot) sun shine!