Yarn Along

Joining Ginny again today for the Yarn Along...

Knitting has been a real refuge for me this week.  While I have been too tired to read, I have found such solace on my needles (and of course in the woes of Hope and Michael on the latest (to me) episodes of Thirtysomething).  I am making Little C a pair of overalls; one leg is finished and the other one is in the works.
One of my goals for the new year is to have a better idea of how much money we are spending and where it is going. I started One Year to an Organized Financial Life in October (for me, more like 3 Years to an Organized Financial Life) and have worked my way to March by tracking our expenses (the the help of mint.com) and developing a preliminary budget for our little family of five.
I am looking forward to more knitting and a lot more reading for next Wednesday.  Happy reading and knitting everyone!

Happy 5th Birthday

Today our oldest turned 5 years old.

Our strong-willed, chubby cheeked 

oldest little one is one year older.

Thank you, my dear Norah, for all 

that you have taught me.  I am still

learning, little one, still learning.

Nature Study Monday: Dove

I do believe that we have a white dove who has been (or had been, rather) making regular visits to our backyard.   Mourning doves visit us all the time.  Before I knew anything at all about birds, I exclaimed to the kids and insisted to my husband that we did have owls.  Turns out I was quite wrong on that one and I don't think that I am mistaken here.  This all white dove hung around our backyard for a few weeks in the fall.

Release doves, like this one, are evidently smart creatures.  Once they establish a home, they will often return to it from quite a distance away.  Our visitor just stopped by for a while on his or her journey to somewhere else.  I wonder where she calls home and if she will return again.  I hope so...

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.   Amanda Soule

Holiday Gifting Continued: Heavy Baby

For our littlest one's second Christmas, I made a Heavy Baby, my second Waldorf doll.  I did cheat a little though--this time I purchased a premade head from Dream Pixie.  I remembered quite clearly how laborious a process this part was for me (and how incredibly sore my hands were!).  I did underestimate how long the rest of the process would take me and saved the doll-making until the bitter end, resulting in more sore hands.

Our Heavy Baby is quite literally heavy.  He is filled with millet and scented with lavender oil. 

Besides stuffing the head, embroidering the face is the most time-consuming and tedious part.  I did have some trouble with the first eye and wish I had practiced on some scrap fabric (my last minute making frenzy prevented that--argh!), but no one seems to notice but me.  We love this little (heavy) guy already!

Yarn Along

Joining Ginny again today for her Yarn Along...

As I said yesterday, we are trying very hard around our house to find our rhythm again.  The holiday bustle has thrown a kink in our home, a welcome one, but one that I am ready to say goodbye too (I just don't quite know how).  There has been little time for reading as I usually read right before sleeping and I have needed all of the sleep that I can get (so that I can remain calm in the face of the chaos).  What little reading I have done has been Winter World and some bits from The Children of Noisy Village.  

I do most of my knitting while watching Netflix movies (or Thirtysomething reruns) on my computer at night.  I have needed that time to check out at the end of these very long days so my knitting life has been rather full, I must say.  Currently I am working on  another pair of socks for next Christmas (determined I am to NOT experience the stress of holiday knitting again next year).  I'll let you know how that goes...

Nature Study Monday (on Tuesday): Lesser Scaup

The Lesser Scaup is one of the most common diving ducks in North America.  Pictured above is a male; females have white at the base of their bills and have brown plumage.  Scaups migrate as far as Central America for the winter.  Lesser Scaups can be found wintering in park lakes in Texas (as was this one).

~~~

In less interesting news, I am completely exhausted, hence the lack of posts as of late.  We are trying our hardest to get back into our rhythm  after the holiday travel, frenzied gift giving, and near disgusting over-eating, and it is oh-so-hard.  Hoping that Little C will gift his mama with some sleep tonight and that I will be back in full force tomorrow.