This was one heck of a movie... extremely sad... realistic... and I was glued to the screen every second. The acting was fantastic. To be honest I hope this wins something come acadamy award time. Basically its about a deteriorating marriage between two young people who fa
I just posted a photo with my previous post and it didn't come across! I'll try again. Yummy cupcakes.
The day started out nicely... the weather here has warmed up to 56 degrees... and I was outside sweeping the front walkway.. no jacket! Felt so good to have sun on my arms. My dogs are laying outside in their dog pen with the sun shining on them... they also are enjoying this bit of warmth. The weatherman predicts more snow next week :( Bad weatherman! Sunday evening I baked some yummy strawberry cupcakes for Monday. I'll attach a photo. Besides the weather and cupcakes my hubby brought me flowers and DOVE chocolates... bad hubby! I love Dove chocolates. A big sin to me! We watched the last three episodes of Big Love... Season 4. Since I don't get HBO I have to wait a long while for the next season to be released on disc. Today I may go to see Blue Valentine. I love both actors in it and hope its as good as the previews make it look. I'll review it in the next couple of day. Take care peeps!
Its been a while. Sorry for that. I'll try to post more often... there are still a few around who do check my blog out. It got discouraging to me that I received so few comments. So... lets give this another try!
Winter here in Santa Fe NM has been harsh. Below digit temps... a few snow storms. Frozen ice on the INSIDE of our windows. So I have been basically inside knitting, sewing, and reading... and of course watching a few shows on the tube... some of my favorites lately are Two and a Half Men, How I Met Your Mother, Face Off, Supernatural, and Survivor starts next week.. sometime in March the new Breaking Bad season will start (I can't hardly wait!) and in April will start the new season for Haven... I don't watch TV nonstop... but do catch these shows when I can.
Thank God for Netflix! Nonstop awesome films. I watched Red Road... a British film... and it was great!
So stop by and leave a comment! It means a lot to have communication with my peeps.
Two years ago I cut out the peices of glass that would eventually be a map of New Mexico... with all of its counties worked in different colors and types of glass. After I finished that step I started to think it would be very difficult to get the peices to have sharp corners as I didn't have a glass saw.. only a grinder. Last month I was poking around all of my 'stuff' and found this bag filled with these county peices unfinished. I then thought that this would be a great challange for me... to be able to produce this art without a saw. It worked. The corners are slightly rounded but still appear to be correct county shapes and the colors and glass look spectacular shining in a window. I also copper wrapped several crystals, hammered some copper sheeting to add to the finished work. I then hung the map on a peice of dried cholla cactus. All were elements of New Mexico. I had to hang it on a wall as it was just too bright to photograph in a window... but this can give you an idea of how nice it turned out. This was a gift for a friend.
Wow. I really enjoyed this book. The lives of the many characters felt real to me. So engrossing. The way the chapters are written - very easy to read a section and stop - and pick up again. I love the LA history... I had to sometimes stop and say that this is an AMAZING book. I highly recommend it. I must add... when it was first published it received a lot of negative reviews. James Frey... the author... made many enemies with his first book "A Million Little Peices" which he claimed was truth but in reality it was PARTIALLY fiction. A lot of people didn't like this including Oprah. But the book itself was also a great read. So... go to your library and check this one out. Well worth it.
This is Sarah... my personal guardian angel. Three months ago she rented our little efficiency apartment and since then has become a friend. She has started me on a walking program and makes sure I don't lag behind her. When we shop for groceries she watches what I am buying and helps me keep away from the bad chemical sodium stuff. Sarah is fairly informed about nutrition so I do listen to her. Its still not easy though. I do love my ice cream!!! She recently lost both her parents to cancer. I think myself and my husband are now her adopted parents. She has really lightened up my life and is a very special person.
I've spent most of the past week working on these wands. I'll be doing a program at my TOPs meeting and the theme will be exercise. A good blogging friend of mine sent me a Magic Weight Loss wand a couple of years ago and I loved it so much that I decided it would be fun to hand out a wand to all of my TOPs friends. In case you can't read it the tag says :Magic Weight Loss Wand. Wave in the air three times and then walk around the block twice" By the way... it works. I've been on a walking program for a couple of weeks now and feel so much better and stronger. It is said that it takes two weeks to develop a habit. I hope I now have developed this habit! Maybe my weight will start to go down now! Click on the images in order to see the wands more clearly.
I crocheted a lace Christmas treetop star for my mother four years ago. I loved it and have wanted to make one for myself. Well... after procrastinating for four years I finally sat myself down and made myself one... it took about a week... and then stiffened it in sugar water, covered a plastic tube with green velvet, and hot-glued the tube holder onto the back. Its finished! I love it. Can't wait to see it on my tree in less than 6 months. Please reply if you are interested in obtaining the information concerning this pattern.
I just finished reading "The Shack"... and this book was so poorly written. The author's lack of writing skill, the syrupy words, but I read on. And it only gets worse from there. The author's need to dress almost every phrase with metaphors made reading this book laughable. Please don't take offence if you read this book and you loved it. I'm not attacking you. I'm simply giving my opinion. If it changed your life for the better, good for you. I truly am happy that it did. The world needs more people who look at the bigger picture and do their damnedest to love one another. There's too much hate and anger simmering in the general populous. Just don't attack me because I didn't like it. Thats my story and I'm sticking to it!
I designed and x-stitched a Christmas stocking for my golf-fanatic brother-in-law Spencer. I like how it turned out. There isn't much I could do to make a golf-themed stocking... so ended up with a large green grass area. I still like it and hope he does too! Enjoy Spencer!
I saw an adorable felted birthday cake on someones blog a while back and decided this would be a cute gift for my little sister Terri. I feel safe showing this as I know she rarely looks at my blog. It was a lot of fun to make...and it goes into the mail tomorrow. What a clever idea this was. Fellow bloggers never cease to amaze me!
Here is a little baby cap I knitted recently. It's knitted from Knit Picks Wool of the Andes yarn. I love this yarn as its soft and squishy and not a bit itchy (that rhymes!). Summer is almost here but its hard to believe considering how odd this spring weather has been in the Southwest... one day warm and next day chilly and windy. I don't really care much for wind and it play havoc with my allergies. I sneeze a lot! I apologize for not posting much lately but intend to try my best to keep my peeps caught up with my life more often. There are several projects in the half-way completed stage... once they are worth posting I'll do so... Have a great rest of this month. By the way... I LOVE COMMENTS! Thanks!
Its been a while since I posted. I spent a few weeks in California helping to nurse my mother. She suffered a broken ankle in a fall and needed help. Since then she has fully recovered and is her spry self again. I then spent a week in Orlando Florida with my VBF Diane. It was wonderful. A goal of mine was to someday visit Epcot Center and that came true. So much fun. So today is Mothers Day. I want to wish my wonderful mother a happy one. She is a mom to 6 children, a grandmother to 13 and a great-grantmother to 21! We all adore her. I love you mommy. This is a photo of her taken when she was 14. She was and is a great beauty.
Whew! I finally finished the March dishcloth FAP. This was a mystery pattern so didn't know what it was until most of the way through it. This was fun to do but I was pretty tired of it by the end. I doubled the yarn in order to make it thick and started to run out towards the finish... therefore the top border is only 2 rows instead of four. The yarn is called "I love this yarn" and I think I got it at Hobby Lobby. The colors in the photo are pretty bad... don't know about this camera of mine. But I hope you can see the pattern. Its an easter basket with a bunny and eggs... very cute! I am now looking forward to her April dishcloth. These mystery follow-along patterns are a lot of fun.
Here is a felted wreath I made for my mother. It is out of felted wool and I highlighted the flowers with neon threads.. pink, oranges and yellows. I love how it turned out and so did she. It was relaxing to make... and I may make another one soon... for myself!
I hope your Easter holiday is wonderful... however you celebrate it... spirituality, with children, and winding down with a delicious ham dinner! Ham, roasted potatoes, brussel sprouts and carrot cake will be on my table tomorrow!
This week is the anniversary of my father's passing. The year has flown by. It seems as if I just posted about his passing a couple of weeks ago. He is sorely missed by his family and will always be remembered with love.
My hubby and I have been waiting forever (it seems like) for the third season of Breaking Bad. It starts this Sunday. I can't wait!
Also... I had a nasty fall two weeks ago and broke my little finger so have been typing with ine hand... very slow. A week later my mother fell and broke her ankle! I have now been in S. California helping her get around. I love my mother and am glad to be able to be of some support. In the mean time I've been knitting up a storm. Once I am back home I will be posting some photos of finished projects. In the meantime I feel Spring is around the corner!!! Yippee!
I loved it. The visuals are fantastic. But... and there is a but... the story itself is not a strong one. I'm not sure what it is I was looking for... maybe not such a typical conclusion? The characters were brilliant... especially... of course... my pretend boyfriend Johnny Depp. Helen Bonham Carter was a riot as the red queen. I saw the 3-D version and at first found it a bit distracting... but by the end I appreciated it... especially the butterfly at the conclusion.
I broke my little finger last week and this is being typed with one hand... very awkwardly! So I will make this short... do go see this... it is a lot of fun.
I've never been to Mardi Gras but from what I have heard and read its one big party. I would have loved it 30 years ago but I'm not so sure now. But... to celebrate I've made a traditional Mardi Gras king cake. It turned out pretty well... not as beautiful as some of the photos I've seen but its tasty and was loads of fun to make! So.. heres to Mardi Gras!!!
I do... I loved Betsy McCall and collected all of her pages until I was around 11. I wish I still had them and it made me wonder what ever happened to them? I was 4 years old when this page was printed. It was the first Betsy McCall page that McCalls magazine published. That would be 1951!
My goals for the week are: exercise 30 minutes every day, attend my TOPS meeting on Thursday, make a King Cake to celebrate Mardi Gras and take to my former work place to share with former co-workers, finish the golf Christmas stocking I am making for my brother-in-law, housework, and walk my dogs. Oh... I am also planning on seeing Wolfman tomorrow! I'll post a review but I've heard its a good movie!
The first four postings of the pattern for this dishcloth I had no idea what the picture would be. By the fifth posting I was pretty sure it was a snowman... and I was correct. This cute cloth was a knit-along posted by KrisKnits on her blog. She creates amazing patterns for dishcloths which include all of the holidays and seasons. There is also a wedding set and a new baby set. This was fun to do and I am anxiously awaiting her clues for the February knit-along. I'll wager its a heart!
Its been snowing a lot here in Santa Fe... so much that it makes me just want to stay in and knit. I've also come down with a slight cold and I'm drinking tons of green tea and staying warm and hydrated hoping it doesn't turn into anything worse. So... being bored I went through my patterns and came across this panda puppet. I'm still fairly new at knitting so I read the pattern and determined that I may be able to do it without a whole lot of frogging. And this is the result! It was so easy since I have learned new stitch techniques. The most difficult part of the project was lining it without a pattern. I love doing projects when I already have all of the 'ingredients' at hand and no running to Michaels to pick up anything! I consider this a cost free project. Cute isn't she/he?
This is a movie worth watching. It opened up my eyes as to the horrible conditions our soldiers face in Iraq. Its a tense edge-of-your-seat movie. If you are curious as to how things are over there rent this film. 4-stars from me.
I love how this little sweater turned out. Even tho there are many many little mistakes... after a while... I figured that if I kept frogging back with every little error this would have NEVER been finished. So I put on imaginary blinders and just forged ahead... missed a stitch? add on... too many stitches? knit together next 2 stitches... and so on. Its cute anyway... and its for a special blogger friend's baby... Anya. Her mother, Rima, is an excellent knitter so I am a little embaressed for her to see it... but all in all it should look cute on Anya. (If your reading this Rima... here it is!!! After so long! I think it will fit Anya in the spring. Its on its way to you now. I hope you like it.)
Drew Barrymore plays Beverly, a 1960s teenager in a working town whose unplanned pregnancy at the age of 15 becomes the thing that defines her tough life. She quits school, marries her baby's dropout father, Ray (Steve Zahn), and spends the next 20 years regretting her messed-up plans. Her husband becomes a drug addict, and she kicks him out. Her son, Jason is a normal, attention- demanding little kid whose deepest wish is for his mommy to be happy. The story shuttles between 1986, when Bev is riding in a car with her now-grown boy, Jason, and all the years and miles leading up to that road trip. I found this movie to be fairly accurate portrayal of the difficulties of a young marriage between two immature kids. This movie is basically about kids having a kid. I started out thinking this would be a light-hearted comedy… but it quickly became serious. I did like this movie a lot and its definitely worth renting. Check out Netflix or Blockbuster!
A friend of mine just mailed me four of the most beautiful lemons. She lives in Arizona and actually picked these from her tree last week! Since I live at high desert altitude and everything around me is brown and dry from winter.. not to mention bitter cold... this was a thrill to receive. I'm now tempted to relocate to Arizona! Thanks so much Cynthia! I'm enjoy these... I see lemon bread and lemon meringe pie in my future!
This one was tough to do... not only was the color pretty bland but I had just finished this same pattern last month... so doing it again was definately a sleeper for me... every time I picked up the needles my eyes instantly got heavy! But even though it was a bit of a struggle to finish I am happy with it... very pretty color...and it shows off the cabling well. I think I'll file this pattern away for a while!
Amazing effects? Yes. Amazing script? Not really. An enjoyable film, but for me it didn't leave a huge impact. If you're into sci-fi you will most probably be knocked out by this film. For me it felt as if I had seen the story before... the story line felt like Dances with Wolves... man meets woman of another culture... has to be accepted by her tribe... and ends up battling his own people to defend his adopted clan. Sound familiar? But I will give credit where its due... the effects were outstanding... and the battle scenes were exciting. I think the media hype is way over done... and the price of admission is also outlandish. My suggestion is that if you haven't seen it yet do go and see it... but wait a couple of months when the price of admission goes down and the crowds thin out.
John... I have noticed a couple of direct searches from Roswell. If thats you please contact me: leslie41447@yahoo.com
I finished this scarf and delayed posting it as it was a Christmas gift for my BFF Diane. Now that she has it I can show it off... I was pretty happy with the results. Very simple combinations of knit and pearl. This scarf is the same pattern I am now knitting for my sister... shown in a previous post. Let me know if you would like the pattern. I'll locate it and send it to you. It was a free download. The yarn is..again.. my favorite Spud and Chloe. Pretty color also... don't you think?
I've just started knitting this cabled scarf for my sister Lindsey. Its a wonderful pattern... just basically knit and pearl stitches... easy for a beginner like me. The yarn is Spud and Chloe... a fantastic yarn to work with. I hope you are going to like it Lindsey!
Here are a couple of cute photos of my very loved dogs.. the always-needs-grooming poodle is Annie... and the chihuahua is Little Bit. If you are in the North Central part of New Mexico... Steve Stucker on KOB channel 4 will be posting the picture of Little Bit on his show... sometime between 5am to 7am Christmas day. Check it out. Fun times!
After
This cake is moist, chocolaty and delicious. I scattered the walnuts over half for those who like them... and left the other half bare for those that don't. There are several versions of the Texas Sheet Cake recipe posted on the internet... I downloaded mine from ALL.com. Have a great Christmas... 2 days away!
This has been a fun knit. Its a self-patterning yarn... and I love the colors. I did a seed stitch along the edges and a simple knit/pearl for the body. I did the seed stitch to keep it from curling but it didn't seem to work. Blocking this may prove to be difficult as its a cotton/acrylic blend... and may not stop curling. But I love it anyway.
This is a great picture of myself with my sister Lindsey. It was taken in Colorado Springs on Thanksgiving day at my neice Rachael's home. Right now I am in California enjoying some quiet time with my mother. Weather here is beautiful and everyone has the Christmas spirit! Hope you all are having a great time this holiday also.
I joined Susan Anderson's Christmas knit along last week... this was a fun project but showed me how much I still need to learn! His tiny elf shoes were a challange... the first one looks horrible... but the second one turned out much better. I still think... even tho there are a lot of flaws... he's adorable. The photo he's propped up against is one of myself (when I was 5) and my mother... taken in 1952! Yup... the olden days! ;)
In between housework, knitting, making Christmas ornaments and cards, I have suddenly developed a passion for FARMVILLE. There are a lot of apps out there... so I refuse to get sucked into all of them... just this one. Its a time eater for sure. I barely manage my knit projects. Heres hoping I get over this new addiction quickly so I can get on with my REAL life!!!
Here are a couple of photos of my neice Leah's son, Robert Shane. Isn't he just huggable and wonderful? I may be flying out to San Francisco soon... I need some baby love!
Well.. here are the stain glass ornaments that were disassembled in the previous post. They are complete and ready to thread with a gold cord. Some are gifts and the smaller ones will be tied on gifts. I hadn't messed with glass in quite a while and my hands are sore! If I worked on glass constantly they would toughen up... trying to knit with these rough hands is quite a challange! Its all good tho... and I think the ornaments turned out well.
Heres a snapshot of what my work table looks like at the moment. What a mess! I am in the process of putting together 9 stain glass christmas ornaments. I'm not going to get dragged into the malls this Christmas season... I'm making all gifts. Besides the ornaments I am knitting scarves and baking cakes. I love this season! It makes me happy. :)
The fantastiac knitter Susan Anderson (susananderson.blogspot.com) ran a series of knitting patterns for this little turkey last week. She posted each step day by day... a lot of fun to try to figure out what this little knitted toy was going to be... until it got to the feathers! I think it turned out pretty well considering I am still all thumbs when it comes to DBNs... try to check out her blog. She also has written three books of which I own two. I do admire her skills.
I went to see this movie because my sister Terri bugged me into it. I had truly forgotten how talented this man was! This film showcases his talents and it was thrilling to watch. When he got to Billie Jean I wanted to jump up! One of my favorite songs of his. If you love music you must see this.
SOUPY SALES
January 8, 1926 - October 22,2009
I just discovered that Soupy Sales passed away at the age of 83.
Soupy Sales was a regular visitor to my house when I was a teenager. My sisters and I watched his show all the time and I can remember some of the stunts he pulled that later became legend. I loved White Fang, which was basically just a big white furry paw - you never saw the rest of White Fang - who threw pies at Soupy. Black Tooth was the same only black and female and she gave Soupy big wet kisses.
His most famous stunt was the time he told the kids in his audience to sneak into their parents bedroom, rummage through their wallets or pants, take out a dollar (which he described as, “funny green pieces of paper with pictures of U.S. Presidents”) and mail it to him. He then told the kids that they would get a postcard from him from Puerto Rico for it. The dollars started rolling in, Soupy tried to explain to the angry parents complaining that it was a joke and the money would be donated to charity, but he was suspended from the show for two weeks. When kids started picketing the TV station it just proved how popular Soupy’s show was.
Do you remember the “topless dancer behind the door” stunt his crew pulled on him? Remember he would open a door on the set to reveal a celebrity guest or just an arm he would joke with? Well, to Soupy’s surprise, his crew once positioned a topless dancer behind the door during the live broadcast (out of range of the show camera but covered with a few strategic balloons). He gave his great Soupy laugh and smile... his smile was always a little bit naughty.
I didn’t find out he had a Twitter account until I read the news of his death - I certainly would have followed him. One of his last tweets was, “Did you kids catch me at the Oscar ceremony last Sunday? Neither did security! KAPOW!” Typical Soupy humor.
Goodbye Soupy, thanks for all the laughs.
