Furnace Wars

Sometime ago, I read Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's writings. I don't remember if it was from her blog or one of her books. She told about how her family engages in the battle to see who can hold off turning on their furnace to keep the house warm. I have always turned on my furnace once in October to make sure that it is operational, so that when it gets really cold, it is working. I then refuse to turn it on until it is 60 degrees F in the house, then it is set for 65 to 67 degrees F. Then our true battle begins, because I will try to keep it at 65 and my husband tries to get it up to 68 or 70. Her battle is to be the last in her family to turn their furnace on.

Today, I walked in from dropping my DD#3 at school and it was cold inside too! It was 62! I finally broke down and turned on the furnace. Now begins the battle at keeping it at 65. I really wanted to get to November before turning the furnace on. I like those bills that say $43 or $44 for a month of hot water. Now the bill will go up to $150 or so.

I hope that everyone else is able to keep cool.

I'll write about getting the girls outfitted in coats and boats (they are predicting snow on the weekend)!

So much happening and so much yet to accomplish

It is already October 13! I find this hard to believe. My husband's birthday is coming up and right now I am dealing with a child who has strep throat. I had to beg a doctor for medicine to stop her coughing at night so that she could sleep and the doctor then does a strep test and finds this. Oh well, better now rather than later. I took my girls to Kings Island so that they could get in on some of the Halloween fun. We saw Mr. Cowpie (he is from California, Kentucky and takes care of animals that no one else wants). He is a very funny individual and caters like no ones business to children.

While we were at Kings Island, we ran across our cousins. They have one DD who is 2 months older than my oldest and their youngest DD is 17 hours younger than my youngest DD (I have one between and their youngest is DS). We throughly enjoy the family and try to get together, but we and they are so very busy that sometimes it seems even when we get together we are running different directions.

With October here, the candy hunt begins! I buy the candy and hide it and the children, search the house for it. Also, it is a birthday month. My neice had her fifth birthday. My sisters-in-law went to Maryland to celebrate her birthday with her and father and her mother (my ex-sister-in-law). Also celebrating birthdays this month are my cousins Chris, Shane, and Terri. My husband and cousin are on the same day and his aunt and uncle are celebrating 44 years of marriage. My uncle is celebrating close to Halloween. So to all those celebrating this month: Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary. Hope it is wonderful!

On the cat front: My Houdini has decided that he absolutely hates the backyard cat, Lucky. This is what they are doing to each other: Houdini is the black and white (insde looking out) and Lucky is the black (outside looking in). Lucky has finally decided that I can be trusted. She will let me pet her (my husband has finally been accepted as well for petting) and pick her up. She comes when I call her name (if she under the porch, in the trees or really close by) and she sits on the back porch meowing for me to come out and she has started a campaign to gain entry to the house. Houdini has begun a campaign of terror. He charges the door and makes some horrid noises when the children get to close to him. We have told him numerous times that the only way he loses his happy home is if he hurts a child. He hasn't been listening, but Buster has been.

We took the children on a walk to show them where I had grown up and where their grandparents (my parents) had also grown up. Including a school that is no longer a school, a church that is no longer a church. Somehow that is depressing. But the girls were interested.

Now on to updates about projects: I finished a prayer shawl for one of the teachers. I had planned on finishing this for the teacher for Christmas last year, but due to multiple illnesses, it never happened. I finally finished it!!! I also finished another prayer shawl using some very thick yarn. It turned out very nicely, and colorfully. I have moved onto finishing a hat, a penguin, two clowns, a dishcloth, a rug and an afghan. I have so much to finish and so much more to make. But I am hopeful that I will get a lot finished.


Here are the links for the patterns: http://wicketstitch.net/index_files/Page2158.htm is the link for the butterfly in flight dishcloth. Thanks to (no longer a valid link) RaAnn for such beautiful work. I loved how it turned out and I am looking forward to finishing some more of your patterns. http://www.debbiemacomber.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=nnp&pageID=196 (no longer a valid link) is the link for the prayer shawl that I have made so much that I really don't need to see the pattern anymore. It is a very simple pattern and is a really nice gift. Now if you go to Debbie Macomber's site you will find a link for her Christmas Sweater for children and a link to a coloring contest for children under 10 years of age. Her grandchildren will act as judges (can't be more fair than that). http://www.debbiemacomber.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=knitting&pageID=2 (no longer a valid link) This is the link for Debbie Macomber and her knitting site. I love this site and I think this is one all knitters should look at, you never know what she'll put up next.

Have a good week. I'll write again soon.

Working at a 5K

My brother-in-law called and requested that I come and help him work a run. He was the starter and the timer. He needed more help. So I brought the girls with me and we helped him with his run. I bring my camera and take some photos for him also. Today's run was to say thanks to the military. They had booths for just about everything. The girls got to play on some blow ups and a play ground.

They had a lot of fun, once they were allowed to do something. My brother-in-law is very uncomfortable with the girls hugging him but he loves them and they love him. They also know him and can find him in a crowd. I can't say the same about my own brother. The girls don't know him and they are a little scared of him. They don't know him and so he is a stranger. I wish we could change this and have both families seen often, but it doesn't happen like that.

Enjoy some of photos from the run today.

Updates

So much has been happening. I finished so many things. I finished a dishcloth. The pattern is from RaAnn Clagg (I'll post a link later). It has a butterfly in flight on it. I think it turned out very nicely. Then I finished a prayer shawl for my middle girl's teacher. Her teacher is pregnant and having complications, so I worked very quickly to finish it. This pattern is from a Debbie Macomber book and is also available on her site. Then I woke up Wednesday morning at 4 a.m. to finish my youngest neice's afghan. I think it turned out quite nice (again I am prejuidiced). This is just simply a granny square and I kept going until it was the size that I wanted it to be. Perfect for a 5year old girl.

Sunday, my DH and I took the DDs to Sharon Woods (a Hamilton County Park) and let them play and walked them around and looked at the water and I naturally took photos. My DD#2 knows how to make a scene. She sat down and was just looking around and I snapped a really good photo of her. We like to look at water areas, especially water falls. So naturally I took some really (I think) good photos of the water falls.





Our church started something called the walk to Bethlehem in time for Jesus's birth. It is an exercise program where all participants walk a 1 mile or 20 minutes of exercise every day. You keep a record of this and turn it in on Sunday. The children and DH are also participating. We have walked a mile or more every day so far.

We also have been working on the no tv for 1 week. It has been nice in some respects. The children have to entertain themselves and I get to read more. I have also continue to work on a clown (for my neice), a blanket for my sister's boyfriend (they live together so I have put some pink into it), and another dishcloth was started. I am cotinuing to work on the prayer shawls (3 of them). Who knows what will be finished next.

Funny thing: my brother-in-law called my cell phone and asked me to come to his next run and be a timer. He didn't ask my DH (his brother), he asked me....wonder what is up?

Have a good weekend.