Knitted Cowl - Dotted Swiss Pattern, New Year's Eve Project

I knitted a cowl on New Year's Eve. That's how ready to party I am, people. Seriously though... sickness ran its course through our household in December. Thus, I elected to stay home on The Most Overrated Holiday Ever, and spent my free evening hours knitting to my heart's content while coughing the night away.

Here I am, triumphant in my knitting victory, at approximately 3 a.m. on New Year's Day. Even as delighted with my Swiss dotted cowl as I am, I've only managed to wear it in the comfort of my own living room.

As far as the knitting goes, this project was a breeze. If you know how to knit, knit 2 together and yarn over, then you've pretty much nailed it. The entire thing took me about 2 days... which is a record breaker for me as I tend to fall asleep while knitting, with my mouth hanging open and my circulars still clutched in my little paws.

Can you spot the boo-boo? I somehow managed to get a little hole on the edge there. It's small enough to fill in with crocheted loops, but I literally had just enough yarn to finish this project and not a bit more! :(

Cozy, cozy! My first cowl, what fun.

The dotted Swiss cowl project takes 2 balls of super bulky yarn - they suggested Encore Mega from Plymouth Yarn, and size 17 circular needles. Wait, actually I think it called for size 15s but I was told I should buy 17s because I'm a tight knitter. As you can see, this worked out well for me.

Here's the knitting pattern for the Dotted Swiss Cowl, courtesy of Plymouth Yarn.

What's Registering on Your Mom Radar Today?

At some point over the course of your life as a mother and wife, you will develop mom radar. This is not something instantaneous, but rather a sort of spidey sense that evolves over time as you grow in your nurturing and care giving, 24-7 on-call role that basically never ends!

Your Mom Radar registers the faint cries of your infant on another floor of the house, even as multiple parties are hooting and hollering or there's a wild and frenzied shootout happening on the TV.

Your Mom Radar picks out your kid from a gaggle of children on the playground.

Your Mom Radar has your brain indexing the entire contents of the fridge, so that when your dear hubby asks, "WHERE'S THE MILK" you'll be able to provide an instantaneous and accurate response.

Your Mom Radar has you walking into a room and making a beeline for all the out-of-place items which you must then return to their proper designated locations because, after all, if you don't then who will?

Your Mom Radar is a homing device for lost toys, missing shoes, old sandwich remnants dropped in the back of the car, and of course, the nearest Dunkin Donuts or McDonald's drive thru in any unfamiliar town.

Your Mom Radar sends up a signal when someone sneaks into the kitchen for a cupcake from the dozen that you planned to bring to the bake sale tomorrow.

Mom radar buzzes rather loudly when your children are in the vicinity of unsavory individuals.

Mom radar knows when it's allergies, when it's a cold, and when it's time to see the doctor.

Mom radar can thwart a meltdown before it occurs!

Mom radar can register distress on the face of sister mom who is wearily trudging down the aisle of Shoprite accompanied by an oaf of a man who is subtly demeaning her! (Yes, I really saw this).

Mom radar has an open communication line to Santa so that mailed letters to the North Pole are not really necessary.

What sorts of signals did you pick up on your Mom Radar today? Leave a comment, get a link. :)

xo,
Mom

Rihanna Looks Like Ice T

Am I the only person on this planet who thinks that Rihanna could be Ice T's daughter?

Black Friday Etsy Selections... More Coming!

"Meowy Christmas," "Happy Howlidays," and other great printed mug/merch designs. Now on Sale! From Heart and Willow Prints: 15% off - use code BF2016




Cute Cross Stitch Designs from Fuzzy Fox Designs:

Personalized kids' clothing from The Little Queen Bee!  20% off everything in the Etsy store. Include your child's name in the notes area when purchasing, so she can personalize. Perfect holiday gift for kids!

Hand Poured and Homemade... here's a lavender soy candle. Lots more available from North to South Gifts!  35% off sale: use code BLACKFRIDAY

Handmade jewelry in beautiful, simple designs using earth friendly materials. What a sweet holiday gift for your favorite earthy gal. Coupon code SAVE20 gets you 20% off from Earth Jewelry

Will Someone Please Buy These Prairie Dresses for Your Daughters?

Alas, I have no daughters. But if I did, you can be sure they'd be getting prairie girl dresses (a la Laura and Mary Ingalls) this Christmas.

What I wouldn't have given to have my very own Laura Ingalls costume as a child! This could have taken the "pioneer" game that my brother and I played as kids, to new and exciting levels. I could don my cotton dress, bonnet and apron, gather up my Cabbage Patch dolls who would surely be wearing their own prairie girl dresses, and we could do all the things that they did on my favorite show, Little House on the Prairie. Like milk the cows, eat horehound candy, dance a jig while Pa plays the fiddle, call in the cattle at dusk ("Hooey! Hooey! Hyaww!!") and other fun, prairie-girl themed activities.

Back when I was nursing my son, I had to figure out a way to pass the time and so I got back into Little House because one of the cable TV channels was showing reruns every night around dinner time. It was just as good as I remembered it!!

Thankfully, some lady out there (actually, a lot of them if you can believe this) is as excited about prairie girl dresses as I am... and she's made some for your own little prairie girls to dress up in!

Order your own pioneer girl dress, apron and bonnet for Christmas! In girls' size small thru large.

I Hate Paperwork, But These Funny Office Manager Stamps Make it Okay.

This lady seems to be doing a lot better job than I am at
organizing her various papers.

Ah, paperwork. Now this is something that busy work from home moms like us "ain't got time for." Am I right?
Remember the days when it was exciting to go and get the mail? I'm probably dating myself here. But when I was a child, you could count on relatives mailing birthday cards with money in them, and sometimes your pen pal would send you a pencil-scrawled note from make-believe France.

I always wondered what other people do with their paperwork. Did you set up paperless bills? The possibility of some government official asking me to prove my identity by showing a printed copy of my utilities is what prevents me from going totally paperless. That, and also, I am just old school. I am probably the last living human being who still mails out bills with stamps on them.

What do you do with your pile o' papers? For a while, we had this storage thing hanging over the door of our kitchen. I was stuffing mail into it and then ignoring the mail. But then, a few times, I walked by it and almost took my eye out on the point of some envelopes that were sticking out. I started to worry that when people came over, the jutting envelopes and papers would create a hazard for them as well. No one wants to find themselves in small claims court over a paper cut on someone's eyeball.

Hate paperwork? Then you'll love these satisfying, "Paid This Sh*t", "Shred This Sh*t," "File This Sh*t"
Office Manager Rubber Stamps that put the fun back into administrative tasks! Makes a great holiday gift.

Anyway, I think I've made the point here that I really don't enjoy paperwork, and I'm sure you don't, either. That's why I find these funny office manager stamps especially amusing. Because I have actually fantasized about having my own, profanity-addled stamper to express my feelings on the never ending pile of papers that will taunt me for the rest of my days!

Also, I've seriously considered writing "F you" in the memo section of checks I'm writing to various institutions. Does anyone do that? Just leave a nasty message to their insurance company or other? If you do, please speak up, I would love to hear from you on the blog!

xo,
Mom

A Fun Anniversary Gift - His and Hers Mugs

Buy your own set of His and Hers Mugs from J Crafts

For our anniversary, I was trying to think of a fun little gift for my husband. Just a small, token item that might amuse him. Like the time he bought me "Fuck You" socks (at my request – just to be rebel in my own mind!) which I wore secretly under my boots so our then 4-year-old who could read already wouldn't be able to see them, and which I would be inclined to arbitrarily flash at random people such as my own brother, during family gatherings.

Anyway, so the anniversary token gift. I remembered that my crafty Facebook friend makes printed mugs and puts funny sayings on them. So I put in an order for his and hers coffee mugs. Mine says "I like his beard" and his says "I like her butt."

I built it up a little, just prior to the big reveal. Two days before our anniversary, I asked hubs out of the blue, "Do you like my butt?"

He gave me a quick "HUH" expression, then said "Ummm... yeah. Why?"

To which I smiled and said "'Cause I like your beard!" and he responded with a miffed look.

The next day, I asked him again. "Are you sure you like my butt?" "Ummm... YEAH. Why do you keep asking me that?" "Well, because I like your beard!" smiling mischievously.

"What are you up to??" "Nothing! Just a little anniversary fun... you'll see."

Well, our day arrived, and I presented him with the his-and-hers mug set, and he got a kick out of it.

I thought it was also funny that the next morning I came downstairs, to observe that he had taken the time to select the proper mug ("I like her butt") and drink out of it.

Anyway, this little personal gift really set the tone for good humor, and an awesome date night to celebrate our 4 years of marriage! Delicious sushi meal, dessert coffees at a cozy little cafe, and a night of drinking good beer and listening to a great blues band!

Happy Anniversary, my love. I like your butt, too.