Short Story Long

Here we are, Little Red Riding Hood, and my brother, Michael Phelps .

I hope you are planning to vote this year. Not everyone gets to vote for their leaders. We do! BFJ and I both got to the early polling. I appreciated this particular right of mine more after having seen Iron Jawed Angels this past summer. We had fun raking up the leaves last night, and jumping in them. We put up a few more seasonal items in the yard - all homegrown, pumpkins and cornstalks. Last night, my sister stopped by to pick up some stuff and drop something off, and I gave her the hat I knitted for her. I knew it might be a little short; I warned her. I had showed BFJ. However, when she got it on, she and BFJ thought it was hi lar iously short, and they both had to try it on and giggle about it. So here, you can giggle too. In my defense, I made it without a pattern, and I've been knitting for four weeks . Obviously, I haven't figured out how much a stitch will cover, but I will. (Perhaps BFJ just has an inhumanly large noggin.) So what did my sister bring me? A birthday...

My brother sent a picture to me from Halloween 2006. You can see what I was talking about in my previous post. And again, here's the real Dog the Bounty Hunter for your comparison!

I've made it out of the fog I was in. Thank you for all of your well-wishes. We have plenty of time to discuss Christmas gifts later, right? Here are some October treats for you. My boys went to a birthday/costume party while I was wallowing in the mire of illness, so I have a Halloween night preview for you: Besides the fact that I love her quilts, I enjoy reading quilter Nicole's blog (Sister's Choice Quilts) because of her family's enthusiastic participation in things. Here are some pictures of their annual Halloween party, which took place over the weekend. If you go back to her archives, October 2007, you can see pictures from last year, and my favorite is her son-in-law dressed as Edward Scissorhands. As for my family, my brother has gone all out for costumes the last several years. We should all be so fun! It reminds me of the Walgreens commercial where the trash man, the guy in the elevator, everyone is dressed up. I tried to find that for you, but no luck. Her...

Here's a picture of our knitting class, with the hats we made. We all graduated! It was so fun to meet other women who knit, and sit and visit. And learn all sorts of things about knitting. Marly is a great teacher, and if you want to find out more about her , she's all over the web, and published! It was great to have a young, hip teacher. She is on top of the new techniques and technology. Most of the ladies from the class are moving on to other knitting and crochet classes with her. As for me, this class was a big splurge (and well worth it), but I hope to see all these ladies regularly. I have been sick, and losing my voice on and off over the past week. I guess I was just too stressed out about the surgery, but now I am going to get past it. As soon as this cold is gone. Last night, BFJ and I watched Lord of the Gourds . What a bunch of fanatics! This afternoon, I have discovered that we left our own pumpkins out on the woodchopping stump too long. All the green ones ar...

Today is my nephew's birthday. Happy Birthday Nephew! Also, one of BFJ's best friends delivered a baby girl today! I might tell you her first name, but she doesn't have one yet. I saw a few flakes of snow floating around today. Tonight is the last knitting class. I have several hats; seven, I think. I need to try something else!

Here are most of the pumpkins from our yard, there are a handful that didn't fit on the stump!

I understand when you work M-F, 8-5, Mondays are not the best. But since I sort of "work" for myself, I usually enjoy Mondays, getting back to the routine of things. After a nap with The Bruise, we went to school to pick up Speed, and then drove around the area taking pictures of trees. It isn't always easy to capture on film what you see with your eye, but we got some nice shots. This tree, I hear, is one of the largest Shumacher Oaks in Colorado. Obviously, I made it through the surgery. I will spare you the details but I appreciate all your prayers and cyberhugs. A LOT. Just as my face is beginning to look normal, shape-wise, it is also beginning to turn green. Perhaps I should dress as Fiona for Halloween. This is my last week of knitting classes. I am sad to be losing this girltime, but I am ready to jump off into the world of knitting! I am SO glad I took a class, made friends, learned some stuff right up front. I wish I had done this with quilting, ten years ago. ...

Oh wait, I am taking one. I am not a person who has a problem saying, No! Not to other people. On the other hand, I find many a project for myself . Did I really need to add knitting? No! No, I did not. But I tell you, I have met the most wonderful people, and wrapped my hands in the most wonderful yarns... I really am glad I'm A Knitter. But actually, I am taking a break from EVERYTHING. Tomorrow, I am having surgery. If you know me personally, you probably think I work this into every conversation possible, lately. It's not that I want to talk about it, but my fear and horror compels me to bring it up ad nauseum. Oh, it's minor; minor . It's oral surgery. But the dentist... I think there's no more appropriate horror film poster than this one . With all these human cells that miraculously regenerate, why not teeth!??? My wonderful husband has taken a couple of days off of work to man the house. (No pun intended.) BFJ can cook, clean, do laundry, read stories, t...

My sister came over and took some photos for us. Here's an outtake. I am happy that these pictures are actually in my back yard! If only I could get rid of that chainlink...

Awhile back, I wrote about my great-aunt and a cousin who stayed with us. Today, we got a package in the mail. Shirts for everyone and some Montana goodies. Isn't that nice? I am also belated in my thanks to Candace. I won the "name the bike" contest, and Candace sent me a packet of Moda swatches. I am going to make a basket with them, thank you, Candace. I sent her a little thank you in return. When I know she's gotten it, I'll show you what it was. She said she'd like to be surprised. Also, one of my sister-in-laws read about my knitting and sent along a little bag of knitting goodies, last time I saw my brother. Wasn't that nice? Thanks, Natalie. Alas! still no picture of the latest hat. I will have to get one of those soon. At our knitting class last night, we talked about blocking. I don't want to block my knitting. In fact, I throw all - yes, all - of my quilting in the washing machine. But our knitting teacher said, "It's the differenc...

Earlier this week, we had a near freeze (32.5*) and I risked not covering my garden before I went to bed. Thank goodness for that half of a degree; none of my plants froze. I would like them to just make it one more week. I broke down and turned on the heat that morning. Yesterday, I went out and found a zucchini in the garden and my little boys helped me make zucchini bread. I used Paula Deen's recipe from foodnetwork. Several people commented (online) about making it, and alterations that they'd made, so I have my own version. The original recipe has a LOT of sugar. As recommended by others, I used a bit less. The final result: it is so good, everyone wanted it for breakfast! Over the summer, when I've had more zuc than I could use that week, I've shredded it up and frozen two-cup portions, so we'll have plenty for bread all winter. After dinner last night, the five of us worked together to change the mantel around. Last year, we had a scary tangle of tree roots...

The last few years, my family and I and various friends have gone to harvest some of our own food at Miller Farms. I am reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and it has made me think more about where my food is coming from, and this is right in line with it. You can pick your own potatoes, onions, sweet corn, indian corn, decorative squash, edible squash, tomatoes, peppers, and more. The kids have a lot of fun. I think it is good for them to know a little about where food comes from. Obviously they've learned a bit in our own garden, too. I am surprised by some of the kids at school that have no idea where their veggies come from, but then again, I am a Cornhusker. I remember visiting my grandparents' farm in Nebraska. It was not a working farm, per se, but they did have crops, and if you wanted potatoes for dinner, you went out and dug some up. I have a different appreciation for the food I work harder to get, especially that which grows in my garden, but I just don't have ...

Happy Birthday to my Grandpa, who left us in July. He served God, loved his family. I miss you!

I am a big baseball fan, but after the heartbreak of the last World Series, I haven't watched as much this year. I know, I know; you could argue that the Rockies weren't really World-Series-worthy, and there is the home plate debacle , but come on. Not even one game? As the second game was winding up, our Yankee friends had the nerve to say, "Don't feel bad. Being first in your league is like being tenth in our league." GASP! Nothing like kickin' a girl when she's down. But I don't hold it against them. Really. I swear. And by the way, if that's true, I blame the DH . I've known since early spring that there wasn't going to be a repeat League win for our team this year, and anyone could see that the Cubs were going to make it to the post season. Despite rooting against them at Coors Field this spring, I've been planning to root for them to go all the way. Wouldn't that be great if the Cubs played the White Sox in the World Series...

This hat is already on the move! It took two days to knit and I also had to purchase double-pointed needles. That's kind of tricky! But I might as well learn it now and get lots of use out of the knowledge. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a bunch of things to do today! Happy October.