Fredrick and Margot

Because every child has some fears at some point, meet Fredrick the Fearless.  He is not afraid of anything, in fact most things are afraid of him.  Especially monsters.  It is the stripes.  Monsters are terrified of stripes.

Fredrick can kick monkey butt, chase scary noises away and otherwise protect children for anything they are afraid of.  Fredrick is a special gift for a special friend's new baby.  It goes along with the blanket that I showed you yesterday.

Fredrick in pieces....

Monster's beware, Fredrick is here.

Another friend of ours loves Angellina Ballerina.  Her birthday party is in a couple of weeks, and I wanted to give her a special gift, just from me.  She doesn't get that it is ok to be friends with adults, so I wanted to give her this.  I hope she likes it.  I hope Hannah doesn't take it.

Knitting pics...

Hat for three little girls.  It matches Hannah's coat perfectly, which was why the yarn was selected to begin with, but some friends wanted matching ones.

Momma needed some sheep socks.   

Love this colorway.  These socks make me happy, and isn't that what it is all about?

Mom, my head is cold.  The hood on this new coat isn't very good.  Is that not the siren call for a mom that knits?  Kid needs a hat.  He loves it by the way, even though his sister is modeling it.



Dang it, it is cold here, a girl needs wool socks to wear with her Doc's!



Baby blankie for a dear friend.  I can not wait to give it to her.  She is so knit-worthy.

Teacher gifts.  Didn't make it for the dreaded December holidays, Valentines Day is more my style anyway.

Outcomes

You can do your very best, and still not have things work out the way you want.  Take this most recent Superbowl.  I am sure that the Steelers worked just as hard and wanted it just as much as the Packers, but guess what, things didn't work out the way that the Steelers wanted.

I read an interesting blog post about letting go of the outcome.  Because in spite of how hard you try, things may not turn out the way you wanted.  If you give it your all, try your best and are comfortable that you really did everything you could, hang on and enjoy the ride.  It boils down to "Give it your all, and let go of the outcome."

This idea really resonated with me, as I am trying very hard to banish negative thinking.  I want to stop being my own worst enemy.  Remember most of the negative things said about us, is said by us.  I like the idea of doing your best and not stressing about the outcome.  Rather embracing the outcome.  Because it is something that really is outside the span of my control.  Sometimes the unexpected outcome take us places we never expected.

My Dad used to tell me to not worry about things that I can not control.  I used to wonder about that.  I used to think, but everything is in my control.  Oh the follys of youth.  As I get older, I have begun to understand that really most things are outside of the span of my control.  All I can control is my reponse to the outcome.

This isn't about not taking responsibility or not caring about things, it is about not beating yourself up because things didn't go the way you wanted them to.  I am all about taking responsibility and owning your actions.  It is about eliminating stress and worry from your world.  Stress has its place in our lives, but worry, like fear, can enable us to make bad decisions and think ill or ourselves.

We perform better when fear and worry are not part of the picture.  So, today, give it a try, do your absolute best, give 150%, and let go of the outcome.  The moving parts will sort themselves out.

Random Thoughts

I haven't done this in awhile, but today I feel random:

1)  The Ladies having coffee in Panera were very interesting to listen to.  Sitting there and eavesdropping was much more entertaining than I expected it to be.   Can not wait until it is my turn for computer programming again.

2)  If you want the kids to walk to school, it is helpful if you do not expect them to walk in the parking lot where the busses are driving around.  I am glad I am walking everyone on Monday.

3) "Life is boring." My 5 year old is very astute.

4)  Karma is a bitch.  It is interesting to watching things play out.  Enough said about that.

5)  Spring soccer starts in about 8 weeks.  This means that the 30" of snow on the practice field will be gone.  This seems sort of fantastic and improbable.  But is most likely the case.

6)  If I had a penny for evertime I said no soccer in the house, I would be a very wealthy woman.  To that end, NO BALL IN THE HOUSE.

7)  Next time there is 24" of snow, it is all you baby.  All you.

8)  It is never ending. 

9)  Knitting still makes everything better.

12 Steps to a Healthier You

Last month, I talked about trying to eat more veggies.  I think for the most part we succeeded in that goal.  Sure, there were times when we slipped back and didn't have very many.  We did try a lot of new things and have even added a few new favorites to our list.  They are packed with veggies! 

Our new favorite is larb.  It is ground chicken with red curry paste.  Well, if you are grinding something, there is lots of opportunity to add veggies.  We added carrots, mushrooms, and even tofu to our larb, with no negative impact.

This month's healthy goal is to move more.  I think we are off to a good start, after shovelling for 4 hours yesterday, I feel like I am definately moving!  Granted it may seem like a hard goal when the weather is so yucky, but I like to take the kids sledding and walking around in the park during the winter.  It is a very different experience.   Now that we have so much snow, maybe some snow shoeing is in our future.

I look at this goal as more than just going to the gym, something I do 3 - 4 times a week, but rather a lifestyle change.  DO. NOT. SIT. ON. THE. SOFA.  When I am trying to move more, I try and adopt the attitude of "Just Do It."  Don't think about putting laundry away, just do it.  When I get in this mode, the house is cleaner and I am healthier.  It is a good thing.

So, our healthy resolutions are:

1) Eat more veggies
2) Move more

Tune in next month when we see what March will hold!

Snowmaggedon, Snowtorious BIG, Groundhog Day Blizzard, the untold story

It was a dark and stormy night.  (I always wanted to use that line from Peanuts and actually have it make sense.)  The winds howled, the electicity flickered and went off.  Just as we inhaled our gasps of horror at the prospect of hunkering down in a blizzard without out precious electricity everything flickered back on.  Our inhales became exhales of relief.  At that point, driving to a place with power was out of the question, and our house was not going to stay warm enough to be habitable overnight.  It was an indescribable relief to have the power stay on.

As a precaution, we cranked the temps up over night.  It was a tropical 67 degrees in our house over-night.  While we were more than snug in our beds, the aforementioned winds howled and snow blew and blew and blew.  Creating a 5 foot drift blocking one of our back doors. 

The front didn't look much better...

So, we have established that the house is blanketed in snow.  We are trapped inside.  What will we do about this little problem?  We will snow blow, and snow blow we will.

A commemorative picture of my husband engaging in some snow blowing.  He had 30 minutes before he had to go to work so, he thought he would get the driveway cleared.  If you are interested in an autographed copy, let me know.

After 30 minutes he cleared the part between the angle and the cars and then came in.  He told me at 10:30 he would get back to it and finish up.  As time ticked away, and 10:30 turned into 11:30, with sub-zero temps looming I text him and ask when he is going to get back on it.  He answers, I have 45 minutes at 2:30.

My neighbor and Sam helped me and we did this.  The war about clearing the driveway continues.  I thought, ahhah today he will do it because even he can't get his car out.  But, no.

While this shot doesn't show it very well, the sidewalk was done as was the walkway to the front door. 

Divorce lawyers have not been contacted, our neighbor has a loaf of bread in the oven and a bottle of wine on the counter, and my back hurts.  Otherwise, it is all normal at our house.  How did you survive?

Closed due to weather

Blog closed today due to snow.  Tomorrow we will provide full and detailed coverage of the Blizzard of 2011, aka Snowtorious BIG.

For your viewing pleasure.