College kids and fat quarters

All three of my children are in college.

Joshua took this selfie:

Joshua snow college selfie

And sent me this mug:

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I received a generous gift of fat quarters from my dear friend Meli:

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And a generous gift of a Halloween Decor Starter Pack from my dear hubby who knew I couldn’t get to my regular Halloween Decor Stash:

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The Great and Terrible Fawn/Miller/Loper Migration of 2015 continues to encounter rough seas, but I have hopes that things will calm down soon and all will be well.

 

 

Concentration

I need to concentrate on finding a house.

Not planning an easy project to work in the car while the realtor is driving us around.

*several hours later*

I left the first two sentences the way they were even though, our house is almost under contract and we found a house we liked well enough to offer for it. I was a good kid.  I didn’t bring knitting.  I brought a pen and a notebook and took notes on the houses we looked at. Even though I had a house in mind already, I diligently kept an open mind and mentally counted rooms and planned on where things would go, and what rooms would work for our family and the things we thought we’d need. And then I fell even more in love with the house I had originally picked out in my mind. My realtor was so cute, she declared that I was “crystallizing” and helped us write up an offer.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we get this house.

Now, I need to concentrate on not freaking out and just being patient until I hear the news tomorrow.

A list of things

My house renovation is finally done enough that it can be listed and a photographer brought in. Here is a list of things that are going through my mind:

  1. I barely recognize my own house.
  2. It looks like I’ve always wanted it to.
  3. It’s perfect for David & me.
  4. We have significantly more than David & me to house.
  5. I want it to sell fast so we can get out of here.
  6. I don’t want it to sell at all so we can stay here.
  7. I cry every time I think about leaving my haven.
    1. This house and my best friend next door were the perfect shelter for a new single mom who desperately needed to get away from a bad situation. What will I have now if I ever need one again?
  8. I’m afraid I won’t end up in as nice as a house as I leave.
  9. I resent that I will have done all this work for a new owner and that an old owner may not have done the same for me.
  10. I’m afraid I won’t have as good as neighbors.
  11. I’m excited by the thought that I will have more space.
  12. I’m happy that I might be able to have bees and chickens.
  13. My emotions are all over the place.

 

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We had a great meeting with the realtor. She was effusive in her compliments and praised all our hard work.  This was just what we needed to hear. I feel better now that it appears that our hard work is going to pay off. She wants to list the house for more than what she originally thought and that is comforting to us.  We might be able to reach our magic number that will let us put a good down payment on a bigger house and have enough left over to pay off the bit of debt that we incurred fixing this place up.

Baby Books Are Useful For Knitters

I just realized that if I look in my children’s baby books, I will have a head circumference for each of their early doctor visits.

This would be a great way for me to estimate how big I need baby hats to be and at what ages.

Now I just have to find the darn things after we unpack from moving.

Which isn’t going to happen until we get this place finished.

Fall Crafting In Summer

I’m smack dab in the middle of summer and I just couldn’t hold off starting a Halloween project. I have a Future Grandbaby Stash, as well as a friend who had twin boys, that need a candy corn hat. She is the one that always comments on my candy corn crafting so I figure she’s the perfect recipient for one. There are several patterns out there for roll brim hats but since I have to swatch anyway to figure how many to cast on, I’ll just go from the memory of making so many others. I’ve worked out that less decreases and more rows in between decrease rows should give me the pointier hat I want.

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My swatch gave me 3.5 inches per 20 stitches. I’ll make the first hat with 80 stitches and see how that works for a newborn.

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The first rows of a hat are always awkward.

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First color change

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Starting the decreases.

I ripped back to the yellow and added a few more rows. I just wasn’t getting the ratio of color that I wanted. I suspected this was going to happen to I didn’t cut the yellow yarn when i switched to orange.

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I like this look a little better.

 

Chynna Went Skydiving!

It was a beautiful day out there in Erda, UT. As we drove through the area, it reminded us of Lehi when we first lived there.  I was a tiny bit homesick for the few times that living there was enjoyable. We had stopped at Gardner Village first just so we’d be closer if the skydive place called and said to hurry and come now. We’d also have something to do if they said the jumps were cancelled. Her first appointment had been cancelled because of weather and there were concerns that this one might be cancelled, too.

We went to a place called Skydive Utah. Many of the people there looked like they belonged on a Southern California beach.  I was calmer than I thought I’d be. Maybe is was because, in part, everyone was so chill. They were so laid-back and yet so competent and efficient. We watched a little video and then waited around for a while. It was interesting to watch one guy packing the opened parachutes. I got some knitting done.

I’m glad I paid for the pictures and video. Chynna had orginally decided not to get them, but I just knew we’d want them and in case she never went again I wanted her to have these reminders. Well, and yes, I really wanted these to show off just how cool my daughter is. I got a few good pictures but I missed many things.  I may have also sniffled a little when she was landing and you can hear that in the video. It didn’t occur to us until later to feel silly that she brought her mother along.  I’m glad I went, though. I really, really wanted to see this and watch her land. Eventually she got put into her gear and loaded onto a plane. It was an amazing experience. Watching the divers come in for their landings was beautiful. It was like watching music.

These are the pictures taken by her camera jumper.

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I took a few of my own pictures that weren’t nearly as interesting.

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While we were there I saw a neat looking plane that was open to the air.  I don’t know the correct terminology for it.

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The day was lovely and thankfully not too hot.

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Chynna getting geared up by her tandem jumper.

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I managed a little knitting while we were waiting.

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This is the plane she went up in.

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We stopped for dinner at Gardner Village where she finally decided she was worn out.  It was a great way to spend a day with her.