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Yes! Snow Day #5

No school, again! The kids and I are having a blast, turning our place into fantasy land...make believe castles and horses and spacemen. There has been crafts! Everywhere!

And I am exhausted. But smiling still.

My van is stuck in the snow, which has now turned to ice. Greg has been having a go at digging it out...last night he got the van halfway out but alas, my girl wanted to stay exactly where she was...in front of the house.

Tonight Greg will take a pick ax to the snow. It's really not THAT MUCH snow, but it is a definite rock that won't budge.

The capris are done...yes, they are CAPRIS. Down to Rafaella's calves. Woot!

I have attempted all morning to get a picture of her in it, but my camera will not capture a running toddler. No matter how cute she is.

These were made from Theresa's Picky Pants Pattern (which I have used over and over and I love - thanks T!), and knit with the Rose Bouquet colorway by Morwenna. She is an "art-eest". *bow*.

We are still in Februrary, and still Knitting for Others, so I started on a long overdue scarf for Greg, to match the hat I knit for him a couple of months ago.

This is Lindon Merino in Flynn (colorway) dyed by Sharon. This photo didn't capture it, but it's such a pretty combination of greys, just perfect for Greg and his personality. Very basic, with a splash of fun. Hmmm...I don't know what that says about Greg, but that he is a very practical kind of man, with a mischievious side.

Truly, I am spoiled! We are now welcoming the weekend, which means it will be time for me to get to work on the Ward. I'm looking forward to seeing some mamas and their babies.

Have a great weekend!

Snow Day #4

I'm becoming spoiled!

Yesterday was a wonderful "Love" Day, with Greg allowing me a day off...I hid in my sewing room while the footsteps and screams and laughter happened above me. I came up for meals but went back to burying myself in fabric and thread and yarn and solitude.

Mama = Happy.

Today was a great mail day! My favorite magazines came in and probably The Best Bread Book Ever.

I borrowed the bread book from the library and have had it for 9 weeks. I have to finally return it after renewing it online 3 times, which was the maximum I was allowed. Thank goodness for Half.com, I got an older edition for a grand $6 .

I think I have tried 6? recipes, and to me that makes it a stellar cookbook. I have redone these 6 recipes at least twice since Christmas, and the only reason why I haven't tried the others is because they ask for other ingredients that I don't have on hand readily.

I also got some WAHM goodness, 2 pot holders from Amanda and a necklace from Jess. Isn't yellow just a lovely color? I purchased these two items around the same time, and as you can tell, I had yellow on the brain.

The potholders are perfection, Amanda is a wonderful seamstess...and the necklace, well...I am *so* pleased to have received a yellow Reaching Rock. (especially after all of the begging I did when she went to Arizona to a bead show).

I'm off to cook and read my magazines!

Snow Day #2....

....hey! I'll take what I can get!

I've been gearing up for the Fluff Factory Auctions, and it has kept me busy, because while I am only contributing a few items I still have current orders to fulfill. And I had work this weekend. So, this mama is tired at the moment.

Hence the absolute relief that Greggy didn't have school today. Again. I'm not complaining! I took the opportunity to stay in my PJs and caught up on some chores and some knitting.
I ended up working the legs both at the same time, using each end of the ball of yarn. I was so paranoid that I would not have enough of this yarn for capris! But, I think it's going to work...it is definitely longer than shorts; I can probably venture to say that it has reached "Bermuda" length! teehee. I'm giddy about it. I am finishing up the cuffs and hoping that this itty-bitty pink I have left will be enough for cuffs for both legs.

We did put on our wet weather gear and stomped around outside. There was even less snow than my last entry, but I decided to shovel the less than one inch on the ground just for kicks. I thought that my imagination would be good enough to make up snow for me to shovel. Not! I was so desperate I even started shoveling our front parking area.

I was so pleased to find this goodness in our mailbox today! It is PureWool Merino Yarn. I went in on a co-op and got 2 skeins of worsted and 1 skein of laceweight. It is my first try at this yarn and I am looking forward to knitting it up. The colors are magnificent. The pink is just oozing love.
Pink is definitely my favorite color. When I was a little girl, I even asked people to call me Pinky because I loved it so much. I declared it my nickname in the 5th grade; much to my dismay (at the time) loved ones still called me Niny. I wanted to break free after all, declare my own identity and persona, and at the time I wanted to associate myself with color.

Niny (pronounced "nee-nee") is a derivative of Tiffany. Get it: tiffa-neeenee? I have been called Niny from the moment I was born. But my Filipino aunts and uncles would skew it a little, calling me Neneng, or Ning or Ning Ning or Neng - oy! The pain in my ears! I couldn't handle it any more! I was in the fifth grade and totally wishing that my Tiffany Dara, Tiffany, Niny, Neng and what have you was an Ann, or Jennifer or Mary.

But my Parents insisted on being proud of my name...my Mother watched me carefully when I would write my name on my assignments. "Write you whole name" she would say. "Your name is special".

I would roll my eyes (you know you did it too!) when my Mother wasn't looking and sighed in my head and wrote my name slowly, all gajillion letters of the four names that comprised my lineage.

Gratefully I was raised in such diverse communities in San Francisco, and both My Name and I fit right in. There was never a question as to who Tiffany Dara was. And somehow I became alright with that.

Years later when it was time to pick out personalized license plates for my first car (yes my parents were cool like dat!), I picked "Niny". This car, by the way, followed me all through college and now resides in my parents garage, still with the same license plates. Chez Niny also became our brand name. And I still absolutely do not respond to my brothers if they do not call me Ate ("big sister") Niny. And I now love my name, all four of my then maiden and all four of my now married name.

So, you can call me Tif, Tiffany Dara, Dara, Niny, Neng, Ning-Ning, Ning, Ne-Ne, or Pinky...I have learned that this is all me.

Yay!

We got some of that powdery goodness called snow today! It was so beautiful and soft and light, I practically only had to blow to get the snow off my car.

School was cancelled today due to the 2 inch downfall. Please, northerners, no heckling please! I understand that some of you have had feet of snow fall and it is business as usual. And to think most of the snow melted off the road by 2 pm. And that there is not snow predicted for tomorrow.

We took advantage and got outside first thing in the morning, the boys jumping into the not so large pile of snow I made from shovelling and made snow angels and snow balls and very very small pudgy snowmen.




We spent the afternoon under the covers in my bedroom, all four of us, watching Disney movies, eating leftover pizza and peppermint bark, and singing the disney tunes. I think I read Gregory's book of trains 5 times today. Cooper led a discussion on why it's important to eat dessert. I talked to my Greg, my Mother and Best Friend on the phone, and I knit.

It has been a good day.

So, it didn't snow...

Ah, I should have known. The kids were disappointed; they were ready with their waterproof gloves. I even brought my shovel to my front step, ready for the opportunity to flex some (non)muscles.

It was a pretty pitiful sight actually, with me peering out the window searching for snowflakes.

By this afternoon however, the temperature dropped and it became quite chilly, and the boys asked that I make some cinnamon rolls. I gladly obliged, and the second rise will be overnight in the refrigerator for tomorrow's breakfast.

I was never really much of a baker. I always thought that there was such a finality in baking, that there wasn't the opportunity to correct a recipe until it was too late. I had such aversion to it that I stuck to what I do best and that was to cook.

But over time I just felt that I needed to overcome this fear, and I begged Greg for a mixer to make my life easier. I thought that if the mixer came as a gift I would be more obliged to learn? I asked and I asked but didn't think I would get one. But on Christmas day, my little (large!) wish came true, and I found Tiana (in imperial black) sitting on my counter.

Yes I name my gadgets.

Tiana and I have had wonderful times together. Since Christmas I have taken plunges in baking I never thought I would, such as Proofing Yeast and Kneading. And sometimes Greg, the kids and I get to partake in some successful creations!, and other times, well, I faced the truth of discarding flour (though I despise wasting food and food ingredients). But I'm no longer scared, and that's what matters the most, I think.


With today's baking, also came knitting. February's Knit Along at Sewing Mamas is all about knitting for others. I started promptly on a pair of wool pants for Rafaella, hoping I could get away with making them with such little yarn.

Rafaella has gone through a growth spurt however and I think I will be lucky to get a large pair of shorts from the single skein and trim of Morwenna's Yarn.

I am still quietly hopeful I can get capris from the coveted amount I have.

(lalalalalalalalal, don't tell me otherwise please!)