Monday, December 01, 2014

Sweater Update!

Well, I've been working hard at knitting a lot recently - I've finished one shawl, got another shawl on the needles, planning any holiday knitting, but of course, I've been working away on my sweater!

Yep, it's my sweater for Save the Children's Wear a Sweater and Make the World Better Campaign that I told you about in November!

sneak peek of the front
#Sweater day is December 12 (which also happens to be the National Ugly Sweater Day) is
coming up soon! In less than two weeks and I'm bound and determined to get this sweater done so I can wear it! 





It's a fun sweater to knit - I'm using different yarn and having to make some alterations to the pattern to accommodate it, but nothing too big!

The color is lovely! And I can't wait to wear it! I can't lie, I'm a little nervous I'll finish it and then it won't fit ... I don't often knit sweaters for myself for this reason. I tend to make more that don't fit than do fit, but so far, this one looks like it will be okay! Phew! 

What about you? Are working on making any sweaters or thinking of hosting an Ugly Sweater contest to celebrate the 12?

casting on the back
Let me know!


Sunday, November 30, 2014

We LOVE Mario Brothers

*As a reminder, I am part of the Netflix Streamteam. I am being compensated for sharing with you, but as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

No, seriously, my family and I LOVE all things Mario and Luigi.

We have quite a few of their Wii games, and their DS games, I've bought the Original Mario (and the second one and the third) on the Wii store so we could play those too.

I have my own DS with my own Mario games. Because I think out of everyone in this house, I love Mario the most of all.

my game boy!
I still have the original Nintendo Game Boy with the Mario game. It still works and every once in a while, I pull it out to play!



When I was growing up, I played it at my cousin's house. Him and I would play as long as we were allowed to! When we got stuck, we would call my uncle over to help. Because of course, this was back in the day when you couldn't restart at the check-point, or get 5 more lives when you ran out. When you got to the end and ran out of lives, game over!

I even used to watch the Super Mario Bros Super Show on TV.

Yep, all things Mario for me.

Mario gets two thumbs up!
A few years ago, we saw that the Super Mario Bros Show was on Netflix and we watched it. Over and over. The kids loved it, but especially my son! He was younger then and doesn't remember! So, I flipped it on again and guess what? He still loves it!

It's fun watching Mario and Luigi help Princess Toadstool and Toad! Okay, the show can be a bit cheesy at times, but you know what, it beats watching shows with themes that are above my son's head. And it's never a bad thing to watch friends work together to solve problems - even in cartoon form!

Of course this fits in nicely, because lately (thanks to early winter!) a few times a week, I have 3-5 kids in my basement, playing Mario Brothers on the Wii together. I hear them playing and having a good time. "Bubble over to me!" "I need a block" "Who can get that star?"

They too, are a group of friends who are working together to beat King Koopa! It's awesome and they have fun. 

While I don't mind them playing Mario or watching Mario on Netflix, I also don't want that to be all they do. So we sat down and did some Mario art work.

our first Lego picture!
Over the summer, a friend posted on-line about using cross-stitch patterns to make pictures with Legos - each brick could be one square of the pattern, and I thought that was something my kids might like, but of course, it had to be the right "picture."

So I found some Mario cross-stitch patterns and we built this mushroom. It was so much fun. We dug through all the Legos and found the colors we needed and went to town. It turned out so nice, and it wasn't too hard to pull off. The kids think that it was great - despite being unsure at first if this was going to be a good thing.

We have some more patterns and I know they want to try to make some other pictures!

It's nice when you can have a favorite game, fun tv show, and a great craft project come together. Especially when it comes to Mario. 

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Saturday

Today was ...

sleep in late

drink lots of water

work on laundry

put on make-up for second day in a row

have my sisters come over

take some pictures with them

talk about Christmas

go see The Hunger Games with sisters and oldest

knit during the movie

make Shepherd Pie for dinner (with Thanksgiving leftovers)

play games with the family

watch netflix

knit some more

play two dots

Friday, November 28, 2014

TGIF

Happy Friday everyone!

Today I'm going to finish making my broth.

Then the husband and I are going out. The two of us. With no children.

This is exciting stuff I tell you because we don't nearly go out together enough.

So tonight we'll head out to a birthday party. We'll see lots of people we like. And hopefully have a good time.

I'm going to get myself all pretty. I'm going to do my hair, make-up, paint my nails, the whole works.

I almost never do these things, but I figured why not.

I hope everyone else has a great Friday too!

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Thanksgiving 2014

Today was

waking up to watch the parade while knitting

watching the football game where our team lost

running to the grocery store to get the sweet potatoes I forgot

preparing all the sides in the kitchen with Miss M

filling the house with smoke as the baked mac 'n cheese overflowed in the oven

having more food than we could possibly eat at the table

eating good food

snowflakes falling outside the window

remembering the cranberries were still in the fridge when the meal ended

being forced to leave the kitchen so others could clean

sitting for a few moments before getting up and helping a little bit anyway

getting the turkey carcass from my husband to make broth

having my aunt bring me hers (and some onions) to make even more broth

two instances of crying

happiness for what we had

sadness because we usually spend the day with my mom and dad and we weren't able to this year

talking to my mom and dad on the phone

pie with whipped cream for dessert

more knitting

watching Men In Black II and Muppets take Manhattan with Mr 8yo

an incredible amount of gratitude for my husband (who is by my side no matter what), my 3 awesome kids, that we are all healthy enough to sit at a table in a house we live in with food we didn't have to sacrifice anything else to buy in a place where we feel safe and are warm despite the cold outside

happy thanksgiving everyone

xoxo