My To-Do List

There have been some exciting developments in the last week or so! One, we had our first day where the temperature went above 70, and all of Wisconsin rejoiced. There were people out walking, riding bikes, babies smiling, the whole thing. Of course it lasted less than 24 hours and now it's back to being cold and kind of gloomy. Tonight we are actually expecting snow! :( However, that's not going to get my mood down, because two, I have a burgeoning to-do list that's awesome!! Behold, The List:

1. I ordered a new cat-feeder and I am going to try and put my love of carpentary and my love of twarting my cats from food together in the this brand new project. As this feeder was over $100, I thought it would be worthwhile (and fun) to try and use the feeder for two cats. So, I am going to be building a contraption that will allow food from the one chute to go into two bowls. This could be disaster or it could be the answer to all of my catfood prayers.
2. Arlo and I are going to be joining a CSA (Community Suported Agriculture). This means we will have fresh, seasonal vegetables all summer and into fall! And here's the best part- we get to work on a farm!!!! The one that we are joining has a "work share" where you can work off half of the cost of the CSA. It's only 25 hours and when we go together, we count both of our hours. I am so excited!!!! Laura, who runs it, said that we could be doing weeding, harvesting, building stuff, demolishing stuff (yay!), and working at the farmers' market (Arlo's excited about this task). In addition to all of the delivered stuff, we can also go and pick asparagus and raspberries anytime we want! So cool!
3. I will be trained to teach water aerobics! The other day, I asked an instructor at the YMCA why they don't have any water aerobics on the weekends, and she said that they have trouble finding instuctors. She asked if I would be interested, and despite my lack of any experience whatsoever, she said I could do it, and she could train me! So, not sure when I'm starting but I'm totally excited about doing this.
4. Arlo and I are planning a trip to go cabin camping for the weekend! We found a couple of different cabins and aren't sure which cabin or which weekend, but it's definitely happening.
We are going to see if his sister and her boyfriend and kids want to join as well. I've never been cabin camping, so I'm super-stoked.

I will keep you posted on how everything is progressing (an hopefully adding pictures).

So what are everyone else's plans for the Spring?

As always, miss you all dearly and hope all is going well.

Kevin, sorry about my lack of webcam, but didn't get a chance to get one on Sunday. However, it's on my list!! I'll let you know when it happens and we can Skype our brains out!

The light!

Two posts in one weekend?!?!? You must be joking! But I am not. I just wanted to share another lovely gift we got. Arlo's dad, Jerry, is a fantastic glass-blower, and after he made us several cool glasses and vases, I made a request. I asked him to make us a hanging light fixture. Much to my delight, he did it! He even got us this cool pendant kit to hang it. However, it was meant to go right into the ceiling, and I didn't think our landlords would like it if I just went and cut a 4-inch hold in the ceiling and started searching for wiring, so we had some amending to do in order to set up the light. Arlo's dad also made one for Sally, Arlo's sister, and she did the same thing, so she offered very helpful advice on how to do it. Basically, it just meant buying a swag-kit, you know like the hanging lamps that were popular in the 70's, and attaching it to the bulb outlet from the pendant kit. Considering neither of us have any electrical experience, I'd say we did a pretty good job. After we finished it, we celebrated our handy success by going to a yummy new restaurant, Palamino's, where we ate fried foods, drank beer, and watched the Cubs game. Wow, it's almost like Arlo's dating a dude.

The light is awesome and it not only gives the kitchen a pretty glow, it leaves a cool wave pattern on the floor because of the edges.

I am already thinking of new ways that Jerry can add to our collection!

P.S. The last picture has absolutely nothing to do with the light, but I think this is pretty much the cutest picture of Sidd that I have ever seen!

Night, y'all.

The Harf!

Today I received a lovely gift. Phay sent me a photo montage of the harf I made her for Christmas, but didn't actually finish until about a week ago. For those of you not in the know, a "harf" or "scrat" is a scarf-hat combo. When I finished, I added fleece to the inside of the harf to cut down on the Detroit wind, as I used a fairly loose "basket weave" stitch. I found a pattern for this online, made it Phay-like by doing it in a cool gray-scale yarn. So as to not drive myself nuts, I actually allowed myself to give it to her un-finished and then spent the next several months getting more yarn and finally completing it. I think it was worth the wait, and I think Phay agrees. For those of you in Maryland and Pennsylvania, you may not have the opportunity to wear something like this as your weather is finally getting warmer, for Phay and me, we still have a chance, as we could have weather that's below freezing for several weeks to come. So, I didn't feel too badly about sending it to her this late in the year.



Phay's really excited and shocked...what could this be?!?!

Anyway, I wanted you all to rejoice in Phay's montage as well. I scaled it down (as she sent 14 pics!) and chose my favs. Behold, the harf! How awesome does Phay look?!?! She rocks the harf!

Please note the handy re-use of a typical house-hold object to protect the harf in-transit!

I would now like to challenge you. Should you have any cool shots of you wearing/using/admiring things I have made for you throughout the years, please send them to me! I realized when talking with Phay today that I have made a crap-load of home-made gifts throughout the years. Most of my cool stuff went to friends and family. It's cool if you don't have easy access to the pics and so you can't send them. This is just a challenge should you choose to accept it.

Not much else to report right now. Just hanging out, watching TLC, sitting with the cats, while Arlo is bartending. After posting, it gets really exciting...I'm going to clean the bathroom! I miss you all and hope everyone is well, happy, and warm.

Oh yeah, one more thing....Happy birthday to my mom, although she doesn't read this, because she didn't know about it. At first this was on purpose, but then I just forgot to tell her. Just wanted everyone else to know that yay, it's my mom's birthday!

Night y'all

Okay, I lied, one more thing. Saw Brandi Carlisle last night. Freakin awesome concert! Originals and covers of Hallelujah (some of you have heard this on 88.1), Let It Be (which makes me think of Letter B from Sesame Street), and Folsom Prison Blues. Very cool. Arlo, does this make you proud?