Oh, I dearly love camp. Never got to go as a kid so I have more than made up for it as an....ahem....adult. Besides being hot and smoky, it should be an amazing week! Zip lines, mountain biking, swimming, fishing, ridge runners, kayaking, giant swings, ropes course, blobbing, mud pits...it just never ends. I might even knit a bit during free time and try to get some fresh young recruits!
Jimmy came up with this great idea to do video reviews online. These began with product reviews, honestly done, pointing out things we like (and don't like) about products. Added to them are some cool tutorial videos like a provisional cast on and that sort of thing. I know if anyone has an idea for something they would like to see, just suggest it! They are always open to fresh ideas!!
See the rest of the reviews here: JBW Video Reviews
There are a few more of mine, but I don't recommend them unless you like hearing "ummmm...." and "ahhhh..." way too much. What a dork! Look for Sandy, Jeanne or Laura and you will be much happier...heck any of the girls. They rock!!
Somebody tell me how it happens. You are in a hospital, tired and sore, and you won't let the nurse take that little baby to the nursery. He's all yours for the moment and you just want to inhale that newborn right back in somehow. No one tells you that this is your son, and you should now love him. You just do. For the moment he belongs only to you, in that quiet time. You are in over your head with crazy love, storge love.
Then that baby grows up. I still wonder how it happened and why it had to happen so fast. It came in steps. I remember each one, and it is bittersweet in my heart. You want them to grow into wonderful productive adults, but each of those steps leads them up and away. I am greatful for each necessary milestone, and did the necessary letting go every time, but it still makes a mom's heart a wee bit sad.
My son has grown up into a fine young man. He has some learning to do yet, but he is kind, honest, wholesome, loves his country, loves his family and loves his Jesus. I could not be more proud. I like him a lot! Oh, I will always love him like crazy, but I sure like him a too.
Not many kids these days commit to something at 7 years old and stick with it. I have a couple boys who did. My oldest has made it to his goal (the 2nd is right behind him) of Eagle Scout.
If you have any involvement with this program you know. Most people don't, and that is alright. We are proud just the same. We are fortunate to have an awesome Troop and it feels a lot like an extension of our family. Camping, hiking, backpacking, summer camp, tree cutting and running a Christmas Tree lot, Pacific Coast trips to Yellowstone, Yosemite and every place in between. Spleunking, snow camping, rock climbing, bowling and golfing. So many things I can't even name them all. Memories, lessons, and moments my kids will benefit from for the rest of their lives.
All leading to the highest award in Boy Scouts. Eagle Scout. Less than 2 percent make this rank, and when my son graduates from Marine basic training he will have earned his first stripe because of it.
Yeah, I am proud, and thanks for reading this far and letting me share this. Just so you know he isn't too big for his britches, at the end of the day all the little girl cousins took him down!
A couple of months ago I needed a new printer. Of course it doesn't take my old ink cartridges! These are new, sealed, and up for grabs if anyone can use them. HP Black 94 and HP Tricolor 97. Let me know where I can send them off!
She taunts us with food plates and dessert pictures all the time. Most recently it was cupcakes that brought to mind "Princess Cake" cravings which then lead me to binge on peanut M&M's because it was the only treat I could find in an emergency, with a belly ache to follow. It's all good.
In an effort to give back (cause I'm a giver!) here is what time on my hands causes me to find. Oh the cleverness of some people!! I really, honestly think someday I might give these a whirl.
It began with a show I caught on television....it may have been a Martha if I recall, but I don't ever watch that show so I can't be sure. Anyway, these just looked yummy! Marzipan cupcakes that would be the hit of any Knit Night!
Then I caught This Post on Good Yarns blog....
Which lead to this...
....and finally these pictures!
You have to love the note at the end here!
I was in a big fat hurry and wanted to knit these up for a friend. She has a mad crush on Johnny Depp and his pirate swagger...which I can totally relate to myself. The color is Black Pearl, like in the movie....so I had to knit them for her. Lorna's Laces worsted and a Knitting Pure and Simple pattern made these babies fly...took a day to knit. Gotta love big needles and big yarn!
My mad crush is on Viggo Mortensen, and his Lord of the Rings character Aragon. Can't tell you what is is about his grubby, dirty looks but it makes me swoon. His picture hangs in my laundry room above the washing machine. Honey Bunny brings home movies with Viggo in them cause he is really secure like that. That, and he's... well.....hoping?
*Sigh!*
Please ignore the jammies and the cleavage...I share the amazing cuteness on my lap! Though the jammies are cute as well...Target I believe. They are my summer camping jams because they have pink flamingos. Everyone knows that pink flamingos are the the universal sign of "vacation", and camping is the only vacationing we will be doing this summer. (Oy! Gas prices!!) The pajama pants also have a little red fire engine for the mailboxes...go figure! Now you really know why I had to have them!!
Notice her little tongue poking out? When she is in a deep sleep I will hear this tiny suckling noise....she is having nursing dreams I imagine, and it is seriously one of the cutest things ever. I keep hoping to have my camera ready for a quick video, but it hasn't happened yet. 
Only 19,998 more posts until I feel caught up on life as it has happened...and yet continues!
We have been thinking about it for ages, and talking about it for months. This was not a surprise. The only surprise was my heart changing (relenting) to get another mini dachshund rather than a German Shepherd. Don't get me wrong, I love Mayzie, my mini that I have now. In fact that is the problem...I love her too much! There is no way any pooch can compete with her, and besides that, I grew up with shepherds so I have a bit of a hankering for a large dog again. (These are a few of her pictures)
Well, Honey Bunny put his foot down! Big dogs = big food storage and bigger poops and it was going to be a doxie if there was going to be a puppy. Period.
So, after lots of searching I found a place that had some puppies. Exactly what I wanted too. A black and tan smooth, female please. She had one left, but as it turned out it was really one available. People had "claimed" a puppy but no one had picked them out, so I actually was first in line to pick from two litters! What luck!
Hours later, and much talking abut my current dog, I was finally on my way home with the baby. So hard to choose yet now I could not wait to introduce Mayzie to her new baby!
Now the drama begins. I pulled into the driveway and my daughter ran out and sad "Bad news"....Apparently my husband had taken the jeep out wheelin' with the dogs, and when he got to his destination only one jumped out of the car. Somewhere in the past 20 miles Mayzie had either popped out from a bump, or jumped out, but either way she was not in the jeep.
He searched for a couple of hours and then came home to load his motorcycle and try some more. His plan was to be out there all night and keep calling for her, but the search area was huge.
Needless to say I was a wreck. I felt like I had traded my much loved dog for this little puppy and it was impossible to be anything but sad. I wanted to take her back and go find my Mayzie. I was up most of the night worried about her and my Honey Bunny. I made flyers, posted on bulletin boards, left messages at all the vets offices in my area and in Reno, and I called all the animal control offices in the area.
At about 4 in the morning I woke up one of my kids and loaded up our other dog. Sometimes you just can't wait anymore and I thought in the quiet of the morning she might come out if she heard us calling. I made a big thermos of coffee and headed out.
The first thing I saw was a coyote crossing my street!! Not a good sign. It only added to my fears of bobcats, mountain lions, eagles, hawks, people who might keep her and the 27 degree night that she might be shivering in.
At about 6 am I came around a corner and saw a small sign posted on a street sign. "Lost Dog?" with a phone number was all it said. My hopes began to soar, and if I didn't breath I seemed to have a cell signal. I left a message, which began a series of cell phone nightmare phone tag from the sketchy signal....but long story short, he had my girl!!
Turns out he saw this adorable little dog trotting down the road and when he opened his door she hopped right in. He took her home and worked as hard at finding us as we were working to find her. She is micro-chipped but had no tags on her collar. From now on all collars will have a Sharpied phone number on the inside, but she has too many collars to have tags on all of them.
My Honey Bunny turned out to be the hardest one to find. Once I knew we had our dog back the quest was to find him so he could stop worrying. He was out roaming the mountains on a motorcycle, trying desperately to return my dog to me....finally he was located and all is well in the end.
I have my Mayzie back, and now I have this new little bundle of cuteness....and she has puppy breath to boot!
The next weekend was Father's Day and Honey Bunny got 3 new harness' to secure the dogs into the Jeep, and this t-shirt from REI:
One of the previously mentioned 20,000 posts I now have time for....
Jimmy Beans Wool has this amazing once a month Limited Edition colorway in conjunction with Lorna's Laces yarn. Each month brings a new treat and it sells out like mad, so you have to move quickly to get yours! For the month of June the color was Blueberry Snowcone. I was able to pick up the last 3 hanks of Lion and Lamb and did the happy dance like you can not believe!!
I LOVE Lion and Lamb and knew immediately what I wanted to do with this yarn once I got it.....Clapotis!!
I have to say that when I first saw this pattern I was not especially "wowed". That came later, with the throngs of people knitting it, loving it, wearing it and then making more than one. What can I say? I am a lemming without hope, so I was dying to follow along and knit my own.
My stroke of originality came when I read enough blogs and enough on Ravelry to know that I did not need 4 hanks. Nothing worse than an entire 30.00ish hank to knit the last 20ish number of rows!! I simply did one less repeat and actually knit it a bit longer and still had some leftover.
In the end, I love it!! Probably the most wearable thing I have knit in ages. My husband commented on it, which he never does and even more....my kids noticed! I seriously love it and I can finally understand why so many people knit another one. Quick, easy and nearly mindless knitting to achieve something I will wear forever....and will have to hide when my sister visits because she will steal it for sure!
These pictures show a glimpse of how smoky it has been, and the fires are insanely far away! I only wish I could use Willy Wonka's Smell-O-Vision so you could fully experience it. My contact lens' are driving me mad!!
So, it is not that I don't have things happening. Quite the contrary! It seems that I have all this stuff to blog about and yet no time, so when I do have the time I could literally make 20,000 posts (all outdated) in a row. Anyone with me on that?
My husband is away on a fire assignment. This is good because it means...well...he is a-w-a-y. It is bad because he is *sniff, sniff*..... AWAY! It is a good assignment because he is actually on a really nice detail and while right in the middle of a fire area, he is relatively safe. He is the paramedic in the camp, so basically, for the time being, he is handing out sunscreen and bug spray. If anyone does need medical attention, they have medics and a bus (ambulance) close by for immediate response. Fingers and toes are crossed that all those firefighters need on this fire is sunscreen and bug spray!!
The other day he called and asked me to bring him some supplies to make life better. I guess the fire camp is set up in an area that gets a lot of sun and fire conditions being hot, dry and windy...life is better with some shade. He was also hoping not to jinx things, yet expected he could be there a while. Lucky for us, Northern California is burning up for a change, and this means he is within driving time from home. We met at a half way point about 45 minutes from home and I delivered our EZ-Up shade canopy, a cot, his sleeping bag, sleeping pad, clean pillow, iPod shuffle, tarp, generator, small television WITH a remote, small selection of "dude movies", a few music cd's that can be played on the tv, red vine licorice, and clean underwear. Phew!! Can I get a shout out with "What a good wife!!"?
What most people don't know is that when these guys get called to a fire, they leave in the clothes they are wearing and in a hurry. The experienced ones have an "out of county" bag with a few niceties in it, but depending on the station they are covering etc, they might not get to grab it. Honey Bunny has gone to fires locally that lasted a couple days and he had nothing. They sleep sitting in their engine or on the ground...in the clothes they have on. He told me about one fire on a hillside where they cat-napped nearly standing the hill was so steep, listening for rocks rolling down towards them so they could roll to the side. Lovely job isn't it?
I am back to the pros and cons. Overtime rocks! We have dishwashers to replace and bathrooms that need help and we're planning to re-do in August. We also have summer camp next week and I am taking 25 highschool kids with me, and I have a new puppy!. Kids home alone with a housebreaking mini dachshund is scary indeed. Yet, overtime rocks! I have tile and bathtubs to pick out. Smoke is hard to breath in for weeks on end, but quesadillas or Cheerios for dinner is awesome! Husbands who call with "honey do's" because he is away and he knows the lawn needs mowing...well that doesn't exactly stink, but the man can sure come up with some lists of chores because he is sitting around all day thinking of things HE does around here...and now WE need to get done, and that? Well that stinks! Holding down the fort as a single mom with 3 teens is actually....not too bad :-)
I have great kids and we are doing just fine. I am off to call the inlaws! Gotta see if they house/puppy/kid sit in case Honey Bunny doesn't come home.........just keep chanting "Over Time! Over Time!"
