My ride on a school bus

Well, this morning I boarded a bus to Lee's Summit. Not just any old bus either, a school bus!
And not just with any old school bus driver. Nick drove the bus here this morning to drop off some students for an ROTC competition.  I went along for the ride. Now I know what Nick does when he's gone on his trips.

It was kind of weird sitting in the seat and watching the road pass by. The seats by the way are very uncomfortable and hard on your back. I can see now why students don't want to stay sitting down. Not to mention that the seats feel like ice in the morning!

While traveling this morning, sometimes it felt like I was going on some trip by myself but then I just had to look ahead to see that Nick was the one driving the bus. I don't know how he does it, but he's very good at what he does. It takes a special someone to drive a school bus and that special someone is Nick!
Since my sister lives near the area, she and her family are driving up to meet us for lunch. I finished her scarf last night and I'm anxious for her to see it! It usually takes me a good while to make a scarf, but I wanted to give it to her in person so I worked really fast to get it done. In fact,  I stayed up a bit later than I intended just to get it done.

I was so excited last night I could hardly close my eyes and go to sleep. Nick woke up this morning and was about to get up when he realized it was only two o'clock in the morning. Neither of us could sleep past three so we got up early and went to Walmart to pick up some items and then headed to the bus barn.

Speaking of Walmart, I was in the candles section the other day and I found that they sell fountains and white noise machines. I never would have thought to look there but was pretty excited to see they carried both items. I want one of each and the fountain they sell is really cool. They have different models and the one that is my favorite is the least expensive. The white noise machine is also an alarm clock which makes me happy. Nick is always wishing I had my own alarm clock because I'm forever changing his settings around.

Now we're sitting here in the parking lot waiting for my sister to meet us. The waiting is hard.

Where are my socks?

I've been so busy making a new scarf for my sister that I have neglected working on my socks. I am hoping to get more done though before Monday as I want the knitting gals to help me with the heel flap. I don't know though how much I will get done this weekend.

The yarn I'm using for my sister's scarf is so beautiful. It's really growing on me. I wasn't sure what I thought of the color at first, because I had it set in my mind of a particular color I was going to buy and they were out of it. The more I knit with it, the more I like it. I may have to snag a few skeins for myself! It is very warm and soft and will keep her warm. I just hope I can finish it before this winter weather is over with!

I'll post up a picture when I get it completed. And maybe my sister will send me a picture of her wearing it.

Rooster themed Dish Soap covers

I made these for some friends.

Shown on a 14 ounce bottle.

Bierocks (or simply stuffed cabbage buns)

This is one of my favorite meals to make. Most people cringe when I mention the word cabbage buns because they automatically think meatloaf type filling wrapped in cabbage leaves. Nope!

Not even close. Stuffed Cabbage buns are delicious! The filling does have ground beef in it, but also cabbage, cheese, and other yummy things.

You wrap bread dough around the filling and brush with egg to make a shiny crust and bake until done.

The end result is:

They are very filling and Nick and I are usually stuffed after eating just one. I make baked beans and coleslaw to go with it!

I'm drooling just thinking about it!

Ta da!

Here is the hat I knit for my niece. I used my knitting loom my mom gave me to make it since I haven't learn how to knit hats yet.  The last I heard though my sister claimed it! Guess I better make another one!

Nick's scarf

I finished Nick's scarf a day early. Woo hoo! Here is a picture of him wearing it:

He liked it so much that I may have a hard time taking it from him to show my knitting group. He asked me to make a hat to go with it. So, that's what I'm working on in between the sock project.

I took the sock out that I had been working on and instead of doing 2 inches of ribbing and the rest of the leg stockinette, I'm going to do it all in rib. I like the look better. Though I may decide to change my mind... Who knows?

When I started over, I decided to make it the smallest size which is a children's size just so that I can have more practice with the actual makings of one. Then, when I know how to make socks, I'll be sure to make one in my size. This way it won't take as long either...

I'm hoping to have another sock picture up by Monday so stay tuned!

Socks and hat

I made this hat for my niece Tori using my knitting loom. I had waited too long already not to make the hat I promised by Thanksgiving. Perhaps this year I will make another for this Thanksgiving! This yarn is called eyelash yarn and very hard to work with, but I think the hat turned out cute. I just hope it fits!

I'm not sure why my pictures are all squished together but I can't figure out how to separate them, so I'll just have to make my posts first.

After the hat picture, you'll see where I have started on the socks. I have knit about 5 inches past the ribbed part so far and have only about 3 more inches left to knit before I tackle the heel. Now that I know more of what I am doing, I plan to take it all apart and start again after I go through each step. I also plan to try using only 3 needles instead of 4 as my book recommends.

My instructor uses 4 and that's just how she taught me, but I want to learn both ways. I also found a great sock tutorial online today that I plan to re-read and follow this week. I'm so excited to learn this new project!

Trip to Joplin

On Saturday Nick took me to Joplin for our Valentine's day date. I know it was early, but we had plans to stay home on Sunday and most of the shops we wanted to visit were closed on Sunday.

He surprised me and we headed out. I visited a health food store that I've always heard about but had never gone to. Mainly because we didn't know where it was but found it by accident. It was a very nice place. I was impressed with how much stuff they carried and by the beauty of the store. It reminded me of a log cabin. The woodwork was simply gorgeous!

The prices were a bit steep but seeing that there wasn't another place to get some of the things they carried, it would definitely save on shipping.

There is another store I love to go to and they are an Oriental market and health food store in one. I love their choices for the oriental stuff. I used to think there prices were higher than Kansas City, but after shopping at both, I realized they are very reasonable and in some cases lower than Kansas City. Plus they sell all my favorite brands that I have not been able to find near my sister's.

I love to walk into the store. It smells so good. Reminds me of Thailand. All the spices, noodles, rice and more. It is heavenly. They have some clothing too and some cd's and dishware from asia. Their health food section is somewhat smaller than the oriental side, but the plus is that they sell bulk herbs.

I didn't have much luck with them when we lived in Nevada and I bought some herb and found cigarette butts in with the herb. I'm sure it's not a regular occurence, and was simply an accident but it made me swear off that place for awhile. Now that I know what the herb is supposed to look like I can carefully pick out the parts that don't belong.

I was pleased by their bulk herb prices and the organic choices they had. I have not made any tea yet from what I bought because I had to get a tea strainer first.

I'm looking forward to a cup or two of Red Raspberry leaf tea tonight. Perhaps I'll mix some oatstraw in with it too!

Oh! and I forgot that they sold wheat germ there for only a buck for a pound. I've wanted to get some at Walmart for awhile but did not want to pay $5 for a jar. Now, I just need some yogurt to eat it with as I found out that plain wheat germ is quite disgusting!

We also went to a couple bookstores while in Joplin as well as the mall. I've already got a list of places I want to visit the next time we are there. We ate at the mall for dinner since we were both so stuffed from lunch. Normally, we'd eat at our favorite place, Fazolis.

I had a really good evening with Nick that night.

We woke up the next morning and went to church. We spent the afternoon in the camper and watched movies. The weather was sure crazy! One minute it was sunny and nice and the very next few minutes, the snow would be blowing like crazy! This went on for awhile.

Monday I went to my knitting group and showed the ladies the projects I'm working on. (mentioned on my other blog) It's always fun to see what projects they're working on too.

Until next week...

Socks and scarves part two

So, my goal to get Nick's scarf done by Thursday is looking very promising. I measured it last night and it is right at 30 inches long. I am knitting it until it is 49 inches and then adding a 3 inch fringe on both sides.

I have not been working on my socks much because I've been so busy working on his scarf. This weather has sure been crazy and I want him to have it by Friday. I'll be sure to post up a picture of it when it's completed.

I absolutely love the yarn I am using for it. Plymouth Yarn. Encore. Dark Grey.  This yarn I'm using is incredibly soft and machine washable. It has some wool for warmth too.

I plan to make Nick a matching hat as well as a scarf and hat for me. I just can't decide on a color for myself. I'm thinking red or blue.

Each month, I want to teach myself a new knitting project. Perhaps next month, I'll learn to make hats, then sweaters...

I have been working some on the socks, and just trying to learn how to work with so many needles. I'm sure I'll be taking all my work on again next week and starting over from scratch, but I don't mind. I'm just in the trying out phase right now.

I had been storing my 100% wool yarn in plastic crates, but learned that is a no-no. So now they are stored in a spare pillowcase. When I moved the yarn into the pillowcases last night, Nick saw the sock yarn I'd gotten to make him some socks. So much for the surprise! But seeing it made me excited for the day when I can present them to him. I also bought some for myself, but I can't wait to get a snazzy color for me too.

The instructor told me for my first pair to make it a light color and a solid one at that. The brand I bought is from Italy and they make such dashing colors! Stripes, bright colors etc...

This weekend, I'm going to hopefully teach myself how to do the heel flap and gusset on the socks, and if all goes well, will have half a sock completed by next week.

Can't wait to post some pictures!

Until next time...

The grave.

He who covers and forgives an offense seeks love, but he who repeats or harps on a matter separates even close friends. proverbs 17:9

I love this verse because it's so true.

The grave has been covered and forgiven.

Sock knitting and scarves

Yesterday I had my first sock knitting lesson. I was quite excited to go. Not only that but I had saved up some money to buy some supplies too. I had to buy some sock needles and I had bought the wrong kind of yarn so I bought some 100% wool yarn for making my first pair. I bought a needle case that holds my unused needles and even found some beautiful yarn that I'm going to use to make Nick a scarf. Well, I bought sock yarn but it's very fine which just means I'll need some tiny needles not much bigger than toothpicks! Maybe a little bigger. For my first pair, the instructor recommended some heavier weight yarn and larger needles.

I'm glad I went that route, because it was quite a trick getting used to using five needles! First, I tried out a short set but found that I liked using the longer ones better so I bought those instead. The brand is Brittany which I have fallen in love with. They are wonderful needles and come with a 5 year replacement guarantee!

Months back I thought I'd need five sets of needles and thought they would cost $60! I just didn't know a thing about knitting socks. These needles cost $7. And they are very nice! My teacher taught me to cast on to all four needles which took getting used to. Then, I started making the ribbing. By the time I just knit the rows, I realized the sock was big enough to fit an elephant! So, she suggested I make a gauge first to determine how many stitches I had per inch.

I was worried that if I took the yarn off the needles that I wouldn't remember how to put it back on. But, my memory guided me great and pretty soon I casted on all four needles. Then, the next tricky part came when I had to do the ribbing.  But so far so good. It looks the same as it did yesterday only it's not quite so big.

I'll post some pictures of it the next time I get online.

I also bought some yarn that I plan to make Nick a scarf with. Yes, I know I already made him one for his birthday but it was a complete flop!

I didn't know much about yarn when I attempted to make Nick a scarf for his birthday in December. I just had some old yarn laying around and decided to double strand it and make a scarf. That was the first thing I did wrong. Then I used the wrong sized needle and pulled the stitches too tight. What resulted was a very scratchy thick scarf that would not fold in half. It felt so coarse like camel hair!

It's  a dark gray and it's very soft. Encore brand. I'm very impressed with it.  It has some wool in it too so it'll be plenty warm. But it's machine washable which is nice.

When I get done with Nick's scarf, I'll go back and get some for myself and make me one. I think a hat would be nice using this yarn as well, but I'm not sure if it's the right type yet.

I want to make a new project each month.  In March, I'd like to make a baby blanket. I have several patterns to try from but I'm totally hooked on only using yarn from the local yarn store so I'll have to see what's available.

Until next time!

The Letter "N"

I got this free pattern here.

survivor

Nick had his first long bus trip this past weekend. His first long overnight trip. When I first found out he was going to be gone, it was quite a shock for me. Not only was he going to be gone for one night, but he was going to be getting back late the next night. All week when I talked about it, the amount of time he was going to be gone got longer and longer. Until Nick reminded me he was going to be gone for less than two days. Practically 1 1/2.

I stressed out about the idea of Nick being gone all week. In fact, I found myself very crabby at times and took out my stress and frustration on Nick. I am ashamed at how I treated him all week.

So, how did I survive this weekend:

He left at 11 am on Friday. I listened to the recording that Nick made for me of Psalm 119. It was like he was reading the bible to me. That was nice. Like he was just in the other room. Then, I went to my neighbor's house for a bit. Got home and cleaned out my closet. Then, I cleaned out from under the bed and put more stuff to get rid of in the basket that is going to a friend's.

It was about 1:30 that it finally hit me that Nick was gone. I had been listening to music but had it turned off, and it got really quiet in the camper. Too quiet for my liking. I got out a craft to work on and busied myself with it. Turned on the christian radio and worked until my fingers felt numb.

I went back to the neighbor's to ask them a few questions and then said goodbye to them as they left for their trip. I joked to Nick that I liked it when I thought they were going to be home. Sort of like a security thing. But after finding out they were going to be gone too left me frazzled.

Nothing like some good comfort food. I fixed myself several fresh spring roll wrappers with my favorite new sauce that looks disgusting but tastes quite good. Then, I fixed a bowl of corn. Yes corn.

I borrowed a few movies from my neighbors. All their movies are family friendly and most are tv shows, like the Waltons, Andy Griffith show etc.. I grabbed about ten of them and headed back home. I wasn't sure how the evening would unfold and didn't want to be stuck in the camper with nothing to do. I watched Parent Trap first. The one with Lindsay Lohan. I prefer the older one, and thought they had it, but they didn't. I do love watching Parent Trap. I know, I'm weird.

Then, I watched a movie called Derby Stallion with Zac Efron. I'm not really into horses, but it was a good movie. It was weird seeing Zac play an awkward teen that never really stood up for himself at least not to the bully. I was used to seeing him in 17 again. (which I really liked by the way- not sure why). Then, I watched half of Little House on the Prairie.

I won't even say I watched all three movies because I was glued to my second craft project the whole time but as I always do, I listened to the movies.

I was watching an episode of Little House in the Prairie when I could not keep my eyes open any longer. So I headed off to dream land where I lay awake for at least an hour missing Nick.

Woke up at around 8ish but didn't get moving until almost 9:30. I went to the post office and visit with my friend there as I do every day. I have really grown to love my conversations with my friend there.

I went and cleaned my neighbor's house afterwards and then went home to eat lunch. I went back and dusted and vacuumed for her. Baked two potatoes for lunch and another bowl of corn. I love corn! And then spent the rest of the afternoon watching Season One of the Walton's.

It's funny because when the show was on television, I did not care for it. In fact, I despised it. But this weekend, I have watched more episodes than I care to admit! Yet at the same time, it helped pass the time and gave me something to listen to while I worked on my number one craft.

I did a load of laundry and then hung them out to dry. Washed up the dishes from lunch and went back to my neighbor's for a bit more.

Towards late afternoon, I moved the laptop to the bedroom where it stays warmer and watched Little Women, Walton episodes, Far away adventures of Yellow dog, and more, but I can't remember now...

Nick and I talked off and on throughout the day. And texted too.

With Nick being gone, it gave me time to think about a lot of things. Some of which I'll share in the coming weeks. All in all, I had a good weekend despite the fact that my other half was missing.

Until then...

Then there was light.

The other day after Nick left for work, I went back to sleep but woke up shortly after to check something in the kitchen. I stumbled in the dark leading to the kitchen and reached for the first light I could reach. Imagine my surprise when I realized for the first time that there was a light switch where I had not expected it to be. We've lived in this camper for many months now and it never occured to me to look up. Now, I knew it was there because Nick had emptied the bugs that were in it, but it never hit me until that morning. Not only that, but I've often wished there was a light that shone towards the stove while cooking dinner. Turns out there was this whole time!

I was sitting there all day surprised at myself for not noticing the light, when I looked up and saw another light switch a foot away. Now there were two things in the camper I had not noticed before.

Nick always jokes that I am not observant, but thought he was just kidding! Apparently not!