A Day at the Ranch

We spent a beautiful fall day with Grandad Cool at the ranch in Wyoming!

Lincoln helped feed his first bag of cattle cake to help move some heifers.

He also got to ride in the back of the truck with dad.

He went for a ride on the same merry-go-round I played on in elementary school.

He went on a walk down to the creek to throw rocks.

He explored a little with Grandad.

And then he slept while we fed some more cows and calves.  Quite a day!

Blog Catch-Up: sewing and growing boy

Having completely recovered from my sewing injury--not even a scar!--I've been continuing to work on my sewing skills.  

Using great directions from Pinterest and awesome fat quarters, I made a case for my nook.  Unfortunately, the directions were for a kindle, so it's a tight squeeze, but it does protect the nook, so it works!

I've sewed myself about four different styles of headbands.  This one is my favorite.

Look how big he is!  His legs seem so long to me.  Sheesh.

Behind on the Blog: knitting catch-up

I have definitely fallen behind on the blog--and I need to catch up!  This is my journal and scrapbook--and I need to keep it going.  That, and my dad complains.

I've knit a few cowls:

Stonehenge Neck Warmer in Malabrigo Roanoke for Mr. Cool's birthday

Zuzu's Petals in Stitch Nation Bamboo Ewe in teal for Sista Cool's half-birthday and ovarian cancer awareness month

The Denver Cowl in Textiles a Manos La Perfecta for me.

And I've knit one of the world's cutest baby hats, in my opinion:

Baby Viking hat in Cascade 220.

I have lots more projects close to the finish--including more cowls.  

Pinterest Preschool

Next year, believe it or not, the new Cool, our wee lad, will head to kindergarten.  So I am stepping up our play and adding 4-6 hours of focused preschool learning time.  As a HS teacher, I had no idea what to do--until I finally joined Pinterest and my life was changed.  We have had so much fun with everyone's ideas--I remember Harry Wong, a teacher and writer's admonition to teachers:  "Steal, steal, steal!"

Science has been our most fun--here we are testing 'Will it Float?' and taking data.

We also had fun creating rain clouds--now we can see them outside every day!

Lincoln enjoys numbers too, and goldfish bowl math has been a big hit.

For the alphabet, I've struggled a bit to really get the ball rolling--right now we are mostly working on letter recognition.  Here we parked labeled cars in the alphabet parking lot.

Today we drove on letters.  We are having fun, and I am grateful for all the ideas.  I am also looking forward to sending him off to trained early education teachers!

How I Feel On My Birthday

I find song lyrics--basically, poems, say it best.

Just Showed Up For My Own Life

By Sara Groves and Joel Hanson

Back to Album Back to Lyrics Menu

Spending my time sleep walking Moving my mouth but not saying a thing Hoping the changes would take by  working their way from the outside in I was in love with an idea Preoccupied with how a life should appear Spending my time at the surface repairing the holes in the shiny veneer There are so many ways to hide There are so many ways not to feel There are so many ways to deny what is real And I just showed up for my own life And I'm standing here taking it in and it sure looks bright I'm going to live my life inspired Look for the holy in the common place Open the windows and feel all that's honest and real until I'm truly amazed I'm going to feel all my emotions I'm going to look you in the eyes I'm going to listen and hear until it's finally clear and it changes our lives There are so many ways to hide There are so many ways not to feel There are so many ways to deny what is real And I just showed up for my own life And I'm standing here taking it in and it sure looks bright Oh the glory of God is man fully alive Oh the glory of God is man fully alive There are so many ways to hide There are so many ways not to feel There are so many ways to deny what is real And I just showed up for my own life And I'm standing here taking it in and it sure looks bright

Working Out

I am working to be active all the time, so I created my own personal TV workout deck.  I made a list of Lincoln's favorite cartoons, my cooking shows, and other types of shows we watch.  I listed common phrases, ingredients, tropes, and cliches.  Then I assigned them a simple workout.  So far, it has worked great!  Lincoln loves to remind me to workout, and episode of Mr. Cool's reality show made me do 45 push-ups!

Sew Much Trouble

Lincoln and I stopped in a great little Ft. Collins store this week, Mama Said Sew, and I picked up the pattern and kit to make a Japanese-style knot bag.  I was inspired to make a bunch for myself and friends.  Thursday, I cut out all the pieces.

Then I started sewing.  (WARNING:  GRAPHIC IMAGES COMING!!). Only, I now realize, I was using some poor sewing technique on a very powerful machine.  This happened:

I called dear Mr. Cool, and he raced to pick up wee Cool and myself.  We headed to the ER--my first visit for myself in almost 22 years.  They took an x-ray:

My bone had actually broken the needle, primarily because of its hollow tip.  Very delicately, they numbed my finger and removed the two foreign bodies--the two pieces of needle and the thread.  It all came out.  A new tetanus shot and some antibiotics later, I returned to the scene of the crime.

The next morning, I replaced the needle and finished three of the five bags I had been planning to make.

I still have a few I want to make, but I am going to let my poor finger heal.  I think I know more reasons why I love knitting.  I've heard tell of sharp needles embedded in buttocks, but I feel confident I can avoid that.  I hope.