Crackbook

I admit it. I am addicted to Facebook. ADDICTED!

But on the off chance that people still read my blog, I have a favor to ask.

My daughter and I entered a Mother-Daughter Look a like contest.

I really want to win and was hoping that you would go vote for me. The link to our submission is HERE.

You can vote once a day up until Thursday. Please vote for us. Wanna see why I think we will win?Scary isn't it?

Knitting..... ACTUAL KNITTING!

I was planning on taking you on a photographic tour of my new town, but mother nature decided to dump snow on us for a few days. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to take some Montana pictures :-)

We didn't end up in the rental house that I spoke about a few posts ago. We are in a house near hubby's store. It's a smaller home than I am used to, but the convenience of being so close to his work won out. The town is very nice and I can walk almost everywhere. Sure saves on gas money! Of course I am not walking anywhere in this weather!

Here is one Mama Llama sock done. I messed up on the top of the foot. That's what I get for trying to knit while in the back seat of a jeep. While we were visiting Montana in October after our nephew passed away, we drove a total of 1300 miles in 5 days across Idaho and Montana. That was a lot of knitting time for me. Of course I can't look at my knitting while riding or I get car sick. Not looking at my knitting = mistakes. I didn't care enough to rip it back :-)

Mama Llama DK in Vino

Size 3 needles

Now I have to cast on for the second one. These were for my Mother in Law...but I hate to give away flawed knitting...

This is my Spiralucious cowl. It should be done tonight. I love the pattern but I have to say that I am very disappointed with the customer service. I bough the pattern about a month ago. I printed it out and never saved it. In the move I lost the printed pattern and emailed the owner of KnitSpot and told her what happened. I never got an email back. Not even an acknowledgement that I sent an email. I really wanted to finish it so I bought the pattern again. I even wrote a note in the paypal invoice asking that she refund my $ if she could verify that I bought this twice. Again, nothing. I like her patterns but at this point I don't think I will buy one from her again.

Modeled shots tomorrow :-)

Is there such thing as settled?

Here we are in Montana! I only have one word. COLD. Don't believe me? Look.


This was the temp after I got back from bringing my CALIFORNIA BORN children to school. We are freezing our butts off. I have learned that I do not own a coat that is approved for Montana. I am shopping for a Carhart as we speak. Thank goodness the kids all have warm coats and long johns. I always forget about me when I am out shopping. I think it's a Mom thing.

I am slowly adjusting to Montana life. It's rough going from being busy all day to doing nothing. In Cali I was the annoying PTC treasurer Mom that was involved in everything at the school. This school doesn't have a parent group at all! I drop off the kids and then go pick them up. That's my day. But let me tell you..... my house is cleaner than it has ever been!

I have been knitting. I finished one sock from my super special stash of Mama Llama yarn. I am also working on Spiralucious. I should be finished with that this week. I need all the warmth I can get! I need to knit myself up some mittens as well. Some warm mittens! Any pattern suggestions?


Pictures tomorrow!

Oh yeah..... I decided to make scones this morning. I didn't have any DRIED blueberries on had, so I used frozen. Not a good idea. These are the ugliest scones ever. They taste great, but they sure are ugly!

Montana.....(If you're looking for knitting.... move along!)

I went to my new town last weekend.... or what I think will be my new town. I looked and looked and didn't really find a rental house that would suit us. There is one that I was unable to look at. It looks to me like "the one", but one of the owners lives in Washington state. She couldn't get a hold of the local owner to come and let me in.

I looked at one home that I could move into if I had to. It's a nice home but there were some additions built on to it that makes it hard to navigate. To get into 2 of the 3 bedrooms upstairs,and the upstairs bathroom, you have to walk through the third bedroom. There are no doors on the rooms, just these little accordion flimsy things. Also the stairs are kind of dangerous for my kids. Anyone that knows my children know that Ben has a bit of a gravity issue. Gravity and him do not get along. I can see him falling down the stairs and hurting himself. The stairs have no railings and come into one of the bedrooms....kind of in the middle of the floor. It's really unsafe.

I have pictures of all the homes that I looked at and I was going to post them. Then I decided that probably isn't the best idea :-)

I was just told of a home in Deer Lodge for rent. It sounds perfect! Too perfect. There is someone else who looked at it and will make a decision this week about it. So this means that I have to fly back to Montana on Friday. I just got home last night! Time to do it all over again! This Deer Lodge house is a no pet home. Now there is the delema of what to do with our cat. I hate to give her up. The thought makes me sick but I have no idea what to do with her.

Can't this move be easy? If anyone out there reading is from Deer Lodge or Anaconda..... help me out with this rental thing. This weekend is my last shot at renting something!

Oh and by the way Mom and Dad are moving with us. WHOOO HOOOOO!

It's been a long time..........

It say it's been a long time would be an understatement. Life happened and this blog was the last thing on my mind.

Greg's nephew passed away in a car accident in late October. We flew up to Montana to see the family for a week..... two weeks after we were there, his Father passed. We drove back to Montana and stayed for two weeks. It was nice to be there. The circumstances may have been bad, but being surrounded by family was a nice comfort. There was Thanksgiving and then Christmas..... and here we are.

It's been tough. Now that Greg is not busy at work he has much more time to think about his Dad. He has just started to grieve and I sometimes feel at a loss. I don't always know what to say and I wish that I could take away his pain.

The other big news is that we are moving. Moving to Montana. I'm excited.... and sad. I think it will be a great move for us. Greg will be by his family, the kids will be around Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins. Something that I think they will love. The cost of living is much less there, and the schools are ranked in the top 10 in the nation. All things that make this move positive.

The one and only thing that makes this move sad is I am leaving my parents. Just typing it makes me cry. How can I take the kids away from their grandparents that they are so close to? I've lived away from them twice. Neither time lasted long. I wasn't ready and I am still not. I hope and pray that they will follow us. I can't bear the thought of seeing them only once or twice a year.

Greg starts work there On Feb 15th. I fly to Montana to find a house on Saturday. It's all so fast. I'll be busy and maybe I won't find the time to cry....

Knitty Otter is having a contest and I thought I would join in!

Getting to Know you Contest Questionnaire:

1.) How long have you been knitting?

Since 2004. I was pregnant with my third child and was visiting my parents. Mom was knitting away and I decided that I needed her to reshow me how it was done!

2.) How long have you been knitting socks?

Socks were my second project. I took a practice pair to the hospital when I gave birth to my son and once I got home, I knit a pair for my FIL.

3.) What do you do with a problem like Maria?

Do what the Catholic Church always does...... Move her to a new place and cover up her past :-)

4.) What is your all time favorite sock yarn?

I have a HUGE stash of sock yarn. It's so big that I don't NEED to buy sock yarn for years. My favorite that I have worked with is Twisted. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my socks that I knit with her DK weight.

5.) Toe Up or Cuff Down?

Top Down. I have no idea how to knit toe up.

9. What's your favorite color (this week or for all time)? Do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?

My all time favorite color is yellow. But I am picky. It has be the perfect yellow. Most time I gravitate to earth tone yarns.... and I can't STAND bright red.

10.) Do you have a pet(s)?

Yup. One cat and we are taking care of a old, decrepit, hamster for the summer. Thank goodness he belongs to the school and I can give him back.

11.) Babies: Oven Roasted or Barbecued?

What? What the hell does this mean?

12.) Besides socks what is your favorite type of thing to knit?

Hats and mittens. I have never knit a sweater. I am really chicken. I should bite the bullet and make one....

13.) What's your favorite scent?

I like food smells for candles. Right now I have a hazelnut coffee candle and I LOVE the way it smells. I don't really wear perfume... but if I do, I spray on Love Spell from Victoria's Secret.

14.) What music are you really loving right now? Like a song or a band?

I really listen to everything. Country, Rap, Rock, Pop....anything. I am loving One Republic, not the remix stuff, just their original songs.

15.) How many pairs of socks have you hand knit?

Not too many.... 4 maybe? Maybe 5...

16.) What's your favorite treat? Salty or Sweet?

Both. I have a bad sweet tooth. But I like rich treats. The richer the better!

17.) What was the most interesting thing you smelled yesterday. Not good or bad necessarily, just the thing that stuck out most so that you actually took notice of it.

I spent most of my day at the pool. Not too many smells there. Just the chlorine. I did spray the Love Story on in the morning :-) Oh wait, I made Kettle Corn last night and ate the whole bag. I had never had Kettle Corn until a few weeks ago and now I am in love!

18.) Needles - DPN's: Wooden, metal or plastic?

Depends. I used to love wooden but then I tried the Knit Picks metal sock needles. I really really like them. I want to get the whole set!

19.) What is your favorite sock pattern that you've knit? What do you recommend?

I really like the Embossed Leaves that I made. The pattern was fun and the finished product was beautiful. I just wish that I had used better yarn.

20.) The last Question: If you were stuck on a deserted island who would you want with you, what knitting would you want with you and would you ever want to leave?

Hummmm, I think I would want my hubby and Catherine. Cath's husband can come too. I would want patten and yarn for a sampler afghan. You know, the ones with the cables and motifs.... Also my sock stash. You need socks on a deserted island. Leave? probably not :-)

Everything is bigger in Texas

I had a great time in Texas with Cath. I should say, I had a great time while I was in an air conditioned environment! OH MY GOD IT WAS HOT! Now I grew up in Virginia. It was hot. It was humid. But I have lived in California for 10 or so years now (wow, has it been that long?), and I am obliviously not used to the humidity anymore. I really thought I was going to die.

Other than the heat, I had a great time. Cath had her party to celebrate two years of Mama Llama business at an awesome Tex-Mex restaurant. There were a lot of people there, and it was really fun to see all of her "fans".

Me and Cath's Family

I also got to see her super secret dying process. She was even so kind as to let me make my own colorway. She dyed it since I was too afraid that I would screw it up! I really like this color....so proud of my first creation! I can't remember if Cath named it, or if I did. So I present you.....

LillyPad

If you must have some, and I know you do, MamaLlama can help you out!


Also in Texas, I introduced Chris and Cath to geocaching. Both thought I was a big dork when I explained it to them, but once we got out and actually found a cache (pronounced cash. CHRIS), both of them thought it was fun! Even Brandon got into it. He was the "leader" when he carried around the GPS.

Follow me guys!

While we at one cache site, I saw a beautiful bug crawling on the ground. It was HUGE and bright RED! It really was pretty. No one knew what it was so when I got to the computer I searched for a big red fuzzy ant. Turns out it was a Velvet ant. The name is deceiving because it's not an ant at all.... It was a wingless WASP! Now if you know me at all, you know I am terrified of bees and wasps. TERRIFIED. To the point that Greg wants me to go get hypnotized to get over my fear. It's that bad.

It's also called a cow killer.... Yikes!

Guess everything really IS bigger in Texas!