Q & A

So where have you been?

Oh I’ve been right here mostly.  Although we did make a trip down to SC to visit the Grandkids in April.

A road trip?

No actually as much as I love to drive we went by train this time.  We decided to travel on work days for The Engineer so that he could work while we traveled. The train has WiFi and he was able to get a full day of work in as the miles flew by.  We left behind brown grass and bare trees and 11 hours later arrived to green grass, flowers and shady trees!

Wasn’t that boring for you?

No actually it wasn’t.  I did try to knit but that wasn’t entirely successful so I settled into (re)watching the entire Season 4 of The Walking Dead during the 2 travel days (down & back).

And how are the Grandkids?

They are doing great!  Everyone has had a wonderful school or daycare experience this year and are looking forward to summer!  We really enjoyed our visit during Spring Break.

So much fun to see the different personalities developing!  The youngest boy will be 3 this summer, the older boy was 5 in November and Miss K just celebrated her 10th birthday!  We went to the pool a couple times (before cooler weather moved back in),visited the aquarium, shopped the markets in Charleston, ate lots of good food, and just enjoyed watching the kids play!

You’ve been gone from the blog a long time… you must have made quilts, finished lots of knitting, gotten your spring cleaning done and your garden planted by now!

Ummm… Not so much… I wish I could say all those things are done.  I’ve done a little knitting – but didn’t finish anything.  WAIT – I did finish those stupid curtains for our bedroom – no sewing otherwise.  For the record I hate sewing lined curtains – 10 panels for 5 windows – augh I am glad that is done. I started getting the gardens in shape - in between the rain – but the WEEDS just may be my undoing!  Just this week I bought flowers to put in the raised beds – not much vegetable gardening in my future.  And Spring Cleaning… I’ll make a list for next year I think.

What? No vegetables?

I will put in a few tomato plants, a cucumber plant or two for sharing with my neighbor and my strawberry bed is looking good.  Nothing else.  Our Organic CSA starts this week and I found that last year we had more than enough wonderful veggies all summer for the 2 of us… and I didn’t have to water or weed!

So you must have been spending all your free time at the gym?

Ha!  No… and I am certainly paying for it – in more than one way.  Apparently (and I have the research to support this) just paying for a gym membership is not enough to maintain your weight.  Only thing I’ve been loosing is money.  And my knee is starting to complain.

OK… are you just sitting on the couch and eating bon-bons?

Ha… again no!  I have been doing a lot of research the past couple months.  As part of our trek towards a healthy life style (ignoring the fact I haven’t gone to the gym) we have been looking into the use of Essential Oils.  I had done a bit of research back in the late 90’s but mostly to use as an additive for bath oils, soaps, etc.  Now I am looking into their use as an alternative to the chemical soup of the “over the counter” drug store products available to us and for supporting our ever maturing bodies!  I am not one to jump into things willy nilly… so it’s been a slow cautious journey.  I have a pain cream recipe that is doing great things for The Engineers back and we are sleeping better with some different oils applied topically and diffused.  We have also had great results fighting seasonal allergies.  And I am playing with topical and diffusing blends that are uplifting and energizing.  We used a most excellent blend to keep the bugs in SC at bay.  I am seriously considering an online course in Aromatherapy… but that will require more research and I’ve really wasted enough time run out of time to just sit and read… so that would be something I consider again in the fall.

Last question today… Are you ready for the Zombie Apocalypse?

Yes!  I’ve done my research – see question 3 above! And when that time comes… this is the person I will be with.  He goes nowhere without his sword! 

He wakes up and asks “where’s my sword”?  Pick him up from daycare… “where’s my sword”?  Finish with dinner… “where’s my sword”?  He often also has a gun tucked into his belt… or pocket… or the waist of his pants and maybe even a saw from the tool box.  If his brother has the gun then he makes his own out of Legos (nice to be an armaments master!)

If the lego gun breaks he can quickly re-fashion it.  In the best of situations he will have his Power Ranger suit with the built in muscles… he loves his suit!  The Easter Egg Hunt in the park had someone making balloon animals for the kids… one got a dog…

the other a machine gun!

And when he broke his machine gun – he went and got a balloon sword!

So when the Zombie Apocalypse comes… I’m with the little guy!

In All This Time…

You would think I would have my house clean, the garden and yard in order, some quilting done, some knitting finished…

And you would be wrong!

But since it’s What’s on The Needles Friday I figured I would show you what I had started a couple weeks ago on our trip to Charleston, SC to visit my daughter and grandkids!

We took the train… and you know knitting on a train isn’t the easiest thing to do because they move around a lot more than a car or airplane would.  Not that I would knit in a car because I always drive…

So I knit a little bit on the way down and pulled it back out for my trip home but this is what happened.

This is exactly what it looked like with the sunlight filtering through the trees along the tracks… I am guessing this is what ACID was like back in the 60’s/70’s.

Needless to say I didn’t get any more knitting done on that trip (or since).  That was another Leftie Shawl using a pretty brown I picked up at Knit Picks and the same little leaf colored yarn I had used before.  The Leftie Shawl is available in Ravelry.

We had a great visit with the kids, still can’t believe we sat by the pool two days while we were there – and no it wasn’t warm enough for this lady to consider getting wet. Ha!

The boys were chilly after their baths one night so Granny wrapped them up like little Indians.

And this little one – I can’t believe Miss K is going to be 10 this May!

I’ll be back soon with some more of what I’ve been up to… although it’s not all that exciting!

Almost forgot – remember to go check out what others are knitting this week…