Love Was Born

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas. "God Bless Us Everyone"

TerpThon

Hi all! I'm Savvy. Some of you may remember hearing from me a couple times before about Terp Thon. For the past two years, I have been a participant of this event. This year, though, I have been blessed with the opportunity to be more involved with this amazing organization. This is just such an incredible and worthy cause, and I can't even begin to imagine my life without it. So for those of you who don't know or remember, let me tell ya all about it.

Terp Thon is a student-run organization at UMD. We raise money and awareness year-round for the Children's Miracle Network, which connects us to a local hospital. All the money we raise goes directly to our hospital, the Children's National Medical Center in DC. The Dance Marathon is an event in the spring at which participants pledge to stand on their feet for 12 hours for those who can't. The 12 hours represents the typical nurse's shift at the hospital. The Dance Marathon is basically a celebration of all the money we raised throughout the year. We invite some of the kids from the hospital and just make them feel like rockstars for the day. It is an absolute blast, and it really is a life-changing event. In only our second year last year, Terp Thon raised nearly $140,000 - more than any Dance Marathon has ever raised in its second or third year! Terp Thon is one of the fastest growing Dance Marathons in the nation, and we continue to try to make it even better.

Everything we do is FTK, For The Kids. The kids in these hospitals deserve nothing but the best. Every year, I meet more of these kids, and every time, they make my heart melt. Everything they go through, yet they maintain such spirit and motivation. It just moves you. They are so grateful for what we do. And to think, for most of us it's as simple as turning down that one Starbucks coffee or putting down that extra skein of yarn in order to donate a couple dollars to the cause. These "couple dollars" add up so quickly and truly help save lives. Check out this video to see a little about what we're trying to do here. We are trying to make a difference in the lives of amazing kids like Ollie.

This time of year, I think it's really important to be grateful for everything we have. I think we often get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of everything that we forget the simple things in life. This holiday season, I just ask that you remember the real reason for the holidays and enjoy it.

If in the spirit of the season you're interested in donating to this incredible cause, please feel free to check out my donation page: www.helpmakemiracles.org/participant/smason . I definitely appreciate it, and I know the kids do as well…more than I can even express.

I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season, and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Final Countdown has Begun

Our Thanksgiving was a quiet one and we were stuffed for days. My 92 yr old grandmother was able to attend and we enjoyed her company. She engaged in a game of Who-opoly with the younger set. It was a hoot hearing her try to get out of paying rent and these people are ruthless and give no slack (they learned from her)....LOL She even tried (laughingly) to con her way by using old age as an excuse.

Mr. Bettis was quiet for the most part waiting anxiously for a bit of turkey to land on the floor.

The Black Friday shoppers spent hours watching the Macy's Day Parade and studying the sales ads. Remind me to post a picture of them after their shopping spree....lol

My dishes are Platzgraff and these were given to us as a wedding gift from my in-laws. I only use them on special occasions. Our table setting is country simple :).

The time passed much too fast and soon it was time to load 'em up and move 'em out as the DH says. Chem Girl was packed and ready to head out to her college home.

Every year we give her a semester exam box. There is a package to open every day for the Final Exam Countdown.

The little red booklet has a hint of each package to be opened per day. She doesn't have time to read the blog so I'll share a few of the goodies. Just to name a few: a can of make your own snow, erasers (to erase the next 19 days), chocolate (to ease stress), grow your own tree (miniature and of course it's a joke), and a bag of crocheted white 'snow' balls (to grab a friend and have a 'snowball' fight.

We receive a text every evening of thanks for each little prezzie. It's nice to know she has a little highlight every evening.

I participated in a Christmas jingle and whipped up this little ornament package tie-on.

The final countdown has begun here as well. We have opted for only homemade gifts with the exception of a few inexpensive gifts. The baking/candy making marathon is upon us and the decorating is almost finished.

How is it that we know this day comes every year at the same time and I'm always last minute?

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to friends and family near and far. May we be thankful for the many blessings bestowed upon us. God Bless Everyone!

He's at it again...

See these two??? Well they're not as innocent as they appear. And yes I reluctantly admit that I believe Little Miss Gypsy Jo was in on the sequin party. (she does like glam)
Life has been busy and hectic and apparently Mr. Bettis decided it wasn't busy or hectic enough so he created some drama.
We were gone for an hour and this is what greeted us.







First up a container of itty bitty sequins was completely destroyed. That is not the original container. I only found bits and pieces of the original and can only presume the rest of the container was eaten. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to pick up itty bitty sequins?








This is the lid to the container or should I say what's left of the lid.













My wedding corsage that was sitting on the antique dresser in our living room and there's only ONE dog who could reach it....yep! Mr. Bettis.
What puzzles me is this has been displayed on the dresser since Sept 12, 2011 and he chose now to destroy it? I just don't get it.
Of course his owner was a wee bit disgruntled but chose to overlook it. After all Mr. Bettis doesn't destroy one thing that belongs to the owner.
Thankfully we arrived home in what I believe was the nick of time because I found one of my bedroom slippers (that was in the bedroom) wet with slobber so I have a suspicion my slippers were about to be destroyed.
By the way: I'm still finding sequins. Maybe I should just ignore them and say they're part of our Christmas decorations.

Awareness Month

November is RSD/CRPS Awareness Month. I have been diagnosed with CRPS Stage 2. It is a difficult condition to live with let alone explain so I'll let that for the professionals. For more information click here.

Pass the Puffs...

Thanks to my family I am now battling the respiratory virus. I escaped it for quite awhile but it hit with a venegance today. I don't really have time for the coughing, congestion, wheezing and sneezing as the holidays are fast approaching and there's much gift making to be finished. Forget that Life has also been tossing a few other challenges our way. Anyway, I'm well stocked with Halls throat lozenges. Puffs with Vicks is hard to find in this town and they're my favorite weapon of choice. The DH has been home for approximately 1 hour and claims he's heard enough of the wheezing, coughing and sneezing so he's sleeping on the couch. WOOT-WOOT! I get the bed all to myself! Now I'm off to fix some hot tea, lather the Vicks on my forehead, and throw a Halls in mouth so I can get some of this gift knitting on the move. What's your weapon of choice when you're sick?

Trick or Treat

A few believe the nor'easter was a trick and there are those of us who believe it's a treat. This is what we awoke to this morning. I'm not certain whether to light the pumpkin or Christmas lights. The roads were a slushy mess but that didn't stop the DH and I from making a trip to town. He had to work for an hour and I rode along. Forgot to take the camera but I must say the colored leaves with the snow laying on them looked like Christmas. It was beautiful.This is a yellow maple in our front yard.

We spent the rest of our day cleaning out (DH doing the grunt work) . Whew!Trick or treating is cancelled for the night so we're popping in a Christmas movie. My needles are clicking, there's a few gifts to be finished. There will be finished project pics to come later.

It's a Mask....No, it's a hat...

Stash busting and flying needles. Thank goodness because I have major gift knitting to finish. I've wanted to make the Kitchen Hat for awhile now and finally dug in the stash to cast on. Found an alpaca/wool blend and finished this in 48 hours. A quick knit with a great fit.Next up is a cat hat for our granddaughter. She luvres 'yeows' as she calls them and she wanted a cat costume for Halloween. I used more stash for this and it's oh-so-soft.

Now to the bigger story. We've had a bear, a possum and now a newbie visiting our trash cans. The bear is a messy sorter. Trash is strewn all over the yard and he leaves one big mess. The possum hides out in the can and when you least expect it, he hisses and he digs BIG holes in the bags and throws stuff out of the can. I'd put a picture of the possum but they're so nasty I couldn't even find a cute picture. I'd take one myself but since I had a possum encounter when I was a child, I'm terrified of the beasts.
Introducing Rick the Raccoon. The husband went out the back door and heard a noise in the trash can so he grabbed the flashlight and was surprised to see a masked face. Mr. Bettis wasn't about to miss the action and carried on like...well....like a dog who has encountered an intruder. Rick Raccoon is young and he just stared at the hubby as if to say, 'you're interrupting my snack, you know.' This certainly explains the meticulous trash picking that I've noticed recently.

We need cans with locked lids if only the bear wouldn't trample and destroy them in the process. Personally I happen to like the visiting deer. They snack on the fallen apples and do a find job cleaning up unlike their forest friends.

One of those days....

Ever have one of those days?? Well today is it!

Rambling

Stuck indoors for 10 days in drenching downpours is inspirational in many ways. While sitting on my duff knitting I could look into the dark and dreary kitchen. This corner is very dark in dreary weather so now I'm debating on painting the base a weathered white (as well as the walls) and the doors in a retro green so I can accent with my red appliances (mainly my fancy red coffee maker that Jessi gifted last year ). Problem? My cupboards are solid wood and I'm not certain I really want them painted. The of course there's the 1970's green countertop staring me in the face and funds certainly won't allow a new countertop right now. Well it was a thought....So the DH moved the pie safe from the living room to the kitchen and removed the towel cupboard to the kitchen. Rearranged my cookbook collection from the baker's rack to the cupboard. I'm happy with the look. This is what I was knitting while my mind was swirling about the kitchen cupboards. A Rambling Rows afghan for the DH. He's been wanting an afghan of his very own and since I'm knitting from stash these days this was a great stash buster. I wondered if he'd share this with the knitter but Chan was quick to point out he'll probably more than likely share with Mr. Bettis instead.

I love the end result and I just may have to cast on for another one only this time it will be mine ;).
Handspun yarn from who knows when. Bfl 240 yds light worsted and I despised the color so it went for dye bath.
And this was the final result. Forgive the picture please. I took umpteen pics and still couldn't capture the rosy red colorway. I'm loving this now but have no idea what to knit.

Little Boy Blue

The baby shower travel on Sunday was as messy as the weatherman predicted. I forgot to take a picture of the gift basket but I did remember to get some pics of a few of the basket goodies that I finished for grandbaby #2. We know this one is a boy so crochet baby converse sneakers in the new dad's favorite team colors were a must. Pittsburgh all the way!A warm snuggy or cocoon (whatever name they use nowadays). I had a heck of a time finding a nice button and finally settled on a plain black one. One skein of Lion Brand thick and quick lived up to it's name, thick AND quick.I saw a few of these car booties on Ravelry but couldn't find a pattern so I made my own. They were a big hit at the shower and I'm sure take him places ;).

No baby is complete without a classic sweater set. Sirdar DK yarn in a nice speckled blue added just the right amount of color to keep this knitter interested and yet offer a classic set.

The fish hat was for fun. I got a kick knitting this and presenting it. The new mom-to-be seemed to be thrilled and gave a warm and heartfelt thanks for the handmade goodies. I also made a toy and another fun hat but since blogger doesn't allow more than 5 pictures per post I'll add it in the next one.

The trip was wet and dreary and what should've been a 2 hour ride home dragged into 2 hours and 45 minutes. Now the countdown begins until grandbaby #2 decides it's time to meet everyone.

Little Black Rain Cloud

Well this is the 9th day of rain and I gotta tell ya, it's getting old. I'm beginning to think the sun (ya know? that yellow ball of heat in the sky?) has retired for an early hibernation. Now of course the weatherman is throwing around the word snow but I truly think he only said it so he could get some attention. It's very early for snow even in this neck of the mountain.With the exception of VERY LARGE Mister B muddy pawprints I haven't minded the rain (too much). It has helped my knitting mojo and trust me, there's a lot of knitting that needs to be finished. Pictures to come later, I'm wrapping a baby shower gift for tomorrow and much to my dismay it will be rainy travel.

BANG!

I'm going to begin this blog with a BANG! little Miss Chem-girl called yesterday afternoon and the first words out of her mouth were "I'm alright." Those two words are always great to hear but they are also words of warning for what's to come.
Seems there was an explosion in the Chemistry building on campus and of course she was in the building when it happened. Fire trucks, rescue and police were on the scene within minutes. A student mixed a big no-no with acid (don't ask me, I'm not a chemistry person, I know H2O and Fe. Other than that? forget it.). Thank goodness she's smart enough to make an immediate call to her dear mother because it was on the news within minutes (nevermind facebook was blowing up with info as well). Knowing she was in the building at the time of the incident would've caused great concern and had she not called I would've been in a panic. There were a few injured students and we're sending good thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery.

Over the weekend we had an 'incident' of our own. I put my coffee cup on the sink ledge while blow drying my hair. Then I laid the running dryer in the sink while I put gel in my hair. The cup jiggled (yes, jiggled) and spilled into the sink on the running dryer. I screamed, DH ran and pulled the plug. Smoke and sparks were flying and the dryer is officially 'fried'.
I found this little pink dryer and snagged it. Some of the profit goes to fight breast cancer and since my MIL is battling breast cancer (again) I thought it very fitting.


I vow to keep the tag on the spankin' new dryer ;).
Recently it was brought to my attention that a local person made the oh-so-snark remark referring to new medical/financial developments, 'what else is wrong with this family?'
I'd like to say what my grandmother always said when others choose to 'judge'; don't worry about sweepin' someone else's porch when your own porch needs a good sweepin'. Hrmph!

In the meantime, I'm on the way to Little Miss Chem-girl's college to change her major....LOL (just kidding).

The Wedding

9-10-2011 The day our eldest daughter (Vetgirl) became a Mrs. Forgive the mish-mash of pictures, blogger is not cooperative when it comes to posting pictures in an orderly fashion.

The Bride, Groom, Sister Bridesmaid and a friend goofing off in the background.









The guests were very pleased with the atmosphere and the food which was delicious. Herb chicken or pasta, salad, potatoes and steamed vegetables were the menu choices.

The flower girl.

Upon my request the bride and her ladies-in-waiting gave me a good shot of the gown backs although they look like they're in a hold-up ;)

My nephew who was also the best man baked the cake to suit the couple consisting of dog paw prints and a techo thing in the middle for the groom. It suited them well, very tasty and he received rave reviews.

Flowers and a picture were in honor of the groom's brother who is serving in the United States Navy. He's on the look-out for a video of the ceremony since he was unable to attend.

The bride with one of her favorite cousins. They were born 3 months apart and went to school together from K-12. They also played in the band drum pit for 4 yrs and have many fun memories.

We're finally caught up on our rest. I've reflected for days and some of the ceremony/reception is a blur. We had a wonderful time and we're very happy for her and our new son-in-law who will now be referred as Tech-Guy on this blog ;).

They are on their honeymoon and will be returning soon. I've heard from Vetgirl and she talked non-stop. We are anxious for them to return so we can hear more about their trip and we can't wait for the pictures.

Today is the day...

Please forgive the poor picture of this blogger but I had to post it anyway.

The daughter in the middle is getting married today. We are very happy and excited for her.

This particular post is focused (for now) on those gorgeous shawls we are sporting.

G and Chan encouraged me to knit a CopyKate shawl for the bride-to-be and started a kal. Chan made the pink shawl for Chemgirl (on the left) and G made the green shawl for me.

They arrived in plenty of time and on what was a rather gloomy and despairing day. You girls made our day and we absolutely love the time, effort, love and care that was painstakingly in these beauties (yes, we have admired the zillion ruffle stitches ;). These are like a hug from dear friends. Thank you again for making our day a happy one with many more to come.

Empty Nest...Part II

Empty Nest Part I brings me to this post. Chem girl has returned to college. We patiently waited for Hurricane Irene to exit and make the move.

Packing the car is always an interesting endeavor with DH. The pillows were 'smooshed' on top of the packed trunk.









The backseat was full to the top of the car and this was all I could see of her during the trip.























For the first time she has a spacious room with not one but two windows. Drywall vs concrete block walls which she dubbed 'prison walls' makes her feel as if she's home. She also has air conditioning which is another plus. She has not had air for the past 2 years and the heat and humidity were horrible in the concrete block dorms.




















She dragged the flamingo lights and this little guy with her. What is up with this kid and flamingos? LOL





















Just like the Cardinal family in Empty Nest Part I we've encouraged the baby to take flight. We now have an empty nest once again. Time is moving quickly and in another year or so we will have an permanent empty nest.
There will be another post of Mr. Bettis and his antics while we were gone but that will have to wait.
In the meantime I am in the process of downsizing and cleaning out. Everything MUST GO! well with the exception of my yarn ;)