Ha…so much for an artistic picture…LOL.  It's been one of those rush, rush weeks, so I wasn't surprised with the photography fail.  It was a good chuckle, so I left it as it is.  A slice of my life's ups and downs. 🙂

This week has been a week full of helping my parents, dealing with a snowstorm, all the while trying to maintain a normal flow, both with work and with life in general.  In spite of the craziness all around me, I did manage to work on headband #3, made 2 loaves of soap and finished a bag protype that I am finally happy with.

The headband is finished and #4 will go on the needles tomorrow, the yarn sale yarns are all dyed and mailed and I actually managed to squeak in a Tai Chi class today…whew!

Thankfully these crazy weeks are not the norm here, but when they hit, it's like a whirl wind! 
I'm happy that it has quieted down to a dull roar. 
I enjoy the quiet now and then. 🙂

 

Today's Ten on Tuesday subject is one of my favorites….
10 Types of Footwear You Own.

I'll admit it…I love shoes!  Here are some of my favorites.

1. Ariat Fat Baby Boots.  Yes, I have more than one pair, but how many pair, I'll never tell. 😉
2. Dansko…mostly summer sandal versions
3. Keene's have always been a very go to comfortable shoe for my wide feet.  I have casual ones, dress ones, boot ones
4.  My ugg boots for the same reason.  Very comfortable.
5. My favorite Fluevog pumps that I bought for Ashley's wedding.  I am not one to wear heals often because I am not very graceful, but these are like wearing air.
6. My favorite casual summer sandals. Taos with just that little bit of sparkle that I love
7. These Wolky shoes are SO comfortable.  This is about as much of a raised show as I like to wear if I can get away with it.
8. My tai chi sneakers.  They need to have flat bottoms and while mine are just plain black Bob's, I saw these and yes…yes!!  If you click on the link, you will know why.
9. My trusty sorrel slippers.  I probably wear these more than anything else.
10. My walking sneakers…I am pretty picky about what is comfortable and keeps my shin splints at bay.  Currently I am wearing Nike Fit Sole sneakers and my shin splints rarely bark, but they are wearing out, so I will be looking for something new come spring.

….and that's it.  Even though there are only 10 listed, there are certainly more than10 pair in my closet.  😉

I didn't get a chance to post yesterday as I was busy in the shop and had my parents here for dinner.
Our weekend was spent watching this little cutie while his parents went to the Portland Brew fest.  Such a sweet boy!

We also spent a lot of time helping my parents find a new car.  One that they both would feel safe and comfortable in.
The accident has really shaken them both up, but hopefully this will be the first step in putting it behind them.

~

I hope you had a nice weekend as well!

        

I spent some time thinking abut how I would incorporate the word that I chose for this year into my life and decided that I would dedicate my Friday post to celebrate and share the word that I chose, "Sparkle".  So, until next year, my Friday posts will have a little sparkle sprinkled in somehow. :) 

I love this little encouraging post that I found on facebook a few weeks ago and thought it would be a nice one to start off with.

I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend and Sparkle On!

One of the things that I mentioned in a previous post that helps me get through the dark days of winter are flowers.
Beautiful vibrant flowers…and maybe a little wine.

Something I have missed participating in during this busy season, is working with the skills that I took away from my still life class, Start 2 Finish, with Kim Klassen.

So today while the man who fixes my machines in the shop was occupying my space, I took some time to work in Lightroom and Photoshop. I don't want to forget what I have learned.  It is so amazing what you can do and my knowledge of either of these programs is maybe 5%.  I can only image what you can do when you really have a clue..ha!

On my way home from Tai Chi today, I stopped in the market and picked up a bottle of red wine for the pot roast that is now in the oven filling my house with such delicious smells and I grabbed a bouquet of flowers to brighten up a spot in my kitchen that I walk by every day.

My photoshopped picture is not bright and cheery, but rather moody and mindful which makes a beautiful picture, but today I am happy to look at the cheerful version in my kitchen too!
Enjoy your evening!

Pattern:  Chicknits Elisbeth
Yarn:  WW Opal
Colorway:  Through The Looking Glass
Needles:  US 8

I bet you couldn't tell how much I enjoy making these headbands.  They work up quickly, are warm and fun to wear.

Remember the sad rescue situation that the Cavalier World witnessed in Alabama that I wrote about?  Well…one of the Cavalier Rescue groups ran an auction as a fund raiser to secure the funds to get the dogs out of the auction house.  I donated as much as I could afford to financially and then offered the only thing I knew that might raise additional funds in the auction….my knitting skills.
4 of these headbands will be keeping ears warm and the funds helped to keep our sweet Cavalier sweeties out of the Amish puppy mills and into loving homes.

For someone who hates to knit that second sock, I really enjoy knitting these headbands.
Bonne also has a beautiful slouchy hat in the pattern booklet that I am going to knit next…it's lovely!
Thank you Bonne for your beautiful designs!

Carole's prelude for this week's Ten on Tuesday is one I really agree with.  I am not always successful, but I do try to be mindful of of finding a little sparkle in the midst of challenges
.
When life is hectic and crazy, when work is stressful or overwhelming, it really helps to focus on the good things that are going on. Honestly, it’s always helpful to focus on the good things and that’s why this week’s Ten on Tuesday topic is 10 Things I’m Happy About Right Now.

•  Finding quiet time for the creative side of me.  Sometimes it is Spinning or knitting.  Sometimes it is learning  in photography classes and sometimes it is just playing with color.  These things make me happy, especially during the long days of winter.
• My family, but you already know this about me.  Our 2 new grandbabies just make me smile.  I love all of my grandchildren so much and now that I have a little more time in my life, I really enjoy the time I have to spend with my grandchildren.  They are great kids!
• Sunday mornings ~ Sipping coffee on the sofa, watcing shows that I enjoy, knowing that I really do not have to jump up and get dressed for the day.  Sunday's here are slow, enjoyable days and always have been.  I love Sunday.
• Football…especially this week!  w00t!  Go Pats!
• Tai Chi makes me happy.  I think that all of my years of reading Deng Ming ~ Dao has led me to this form of expression.  I have so much to learn…learning to be quiet, to listen, to watch and embrace.  You know how hard that is for an ADD person, but the challenge of learning quiets the ADD.  It makes me happy.
• Pulling up the shade in the morning and being greeted by an awesomely sunny day.  It's amazing how much that sun helps to set my feet in the right direction. 
• Working on the downstairs bathroom.  Each painful step is bringing me closer to a soak in a tub that I have not enjoyed in 10 years and if you know me at all, you know how happy I will be!
• Frosty mornings…I love them.  The temperatures are going to be favorable all week, which means I can get out and do what I love to do ~ walk.  I love to walk in the beauty of the place that is my home and walking in the cold, crisp air while listening to tunes that motivate me on….makes me very happy!
• Having the tedious parts of my new website finished.  Very happy!
• Listening to my husband who gently snores as I type this.  I am not always a fan of  the snoring, but I do love this man who supports me every single day.  He makes me happy.

 

What a weekend up here in New England!!
The weather was icy, but the game was hot, hot, hot!!

The last 2 weekends we have spent watching the game at my oldest daughter Stacey's house.  Last weekend her husband Jeff was excited to find Gronkowski shirts at a local store up here and even more excited to give Ken one of them.  Watching them do that "superstitious guy" thing with their shirts was too funny!  They started out with their shirts on like this, and then switched the shirts inside out to rally, then Jeff tossed his in disgust, but Ken turned his around backwards to turn the game around…and we won!  Ha!!  Guys and football just make me laugh.
This week the shirts stayed on just as they are here.  So excited to see our team advance to the Superbowl!

Of course with any play-off game, there are lots of good things to munch on as we cheer our teams on.
Jeff made a very very good pot of chili and Stacey made an awesome guacamole.  I brought one of my favorite desserts.  Blue cheese and crackers with some Fig/ginger preserves and a bottle of moscato d'asti.  Normally I hate sweet wines, but with blue cheese, it's pretty darn good.

We also spent time with our little guy.  The lighting wasn't good in this picture, but you can see his little personality shine here., We always enjoy a chance to spend time with Asher.  He is such a happy little soul, even though I can see a little bit of the challenging two's starting to rear it's head..LOL.  He does make us laugh!

I did manage to squeeze in some knitting on another headband and ran a sale on our new website,
www.thewoolenrabbit.com  Yes, a shameless plug, but I worked hard on the new site learning a new platform software and am happy with how it is progressing.  Still a lot more to do, but the hard part is behind me…now I get to play more on the creative end of it, so it's all good, right?

I hope you had a wonderful weekend too!
xoxo

If you remember back on this post, I mentioned that I changed the word that I had embraced as my word my for 2015 at the last minute and chose the word Embrace instead. From that point forward I felt as though my life had turned upside down.  Seriously I don't think that a word we embrace makes that much of a difference in our lives, but I was feeling as though the word that I had chosen instead of the one that had been in my mind all along was creating a little havoc in my life.
How silly does that sound?  Right? 

Well this is how it went….2015.
Having to sell a wheel to keep the business going.  My parents were involved in a serious accident.  An inured deer had to be shot in my back yard the day after my parent's accident, think bloody yard on white snow..  On our trip to visit a dear friend and my son a few days later, my car crapped out on the way.  Ey yi yi….time for a change.

When I mentioned to my husband that I wanted to go back to my original word, but I felt as though it was cheating, he looked at me and said…"It's ok, you can make your word be whatever you want it to be…it's your word."
(I know he thinks I am nuts, but he humors me.)

Well, he is right.  My original word for 2015 was Sparkle. 
Somehow I let myself translate embracing my Sparkling energy into embracing all of the challenging things that we deal with in our daily journey.
They really are two different things aren't they?  We all have challenges that we have to meet, but how we view and deal with them is truly our challenge.

For me, I choose to Sparkle on. 🙂

 

Today's Ten on Tuesday's topic is 10 Ways To Make Winter Less Bleak.
Historically I have always enjoyed winter..well until mid March, but last year I indeed had a bleak winter, which took me by surprise.  This year in preparation for another bleak winter I made plans, but to my surprise, this winter has not felt bleak at all in-spite of a few setbacks that I will talk about tomorrow..

These are the things that I do while embracing the winter months, even though they really are much too long up here.

1.  I brew a cuppa coffee and I knit.  Currently on the needles is my Morning Coffee Sweater and a few of these lovely Chicknits Elisbeth headbands.  These headbands are like potato chips…if you make one, you want to make more.
2. Lots of little white lights around the house to brighten our paths and our minds.  I love the little lights that make me smile.
3. Spending time working in my shop whether it is dyeing orders or time spinning/weaving it's always enjoyable because it is toasty warm out there. (thanks Ken!)
4. I enjoy Tai Chi.  For some strange reason I don't mind dragging this tired body out in the morning for 90 minutes of Tai Chi.  It gets my day heading the right direction…and it's toasty warm here too.
5. Cooking…I enjoy it more in the winter, especially soups and stews.  I love watching my cooking shows, especially The Barefoot Contessa.  This time of year I plan my lunch break around her show and it gives me new ideas for interesting dinners to enjoy with Ken on those nights when I actually want to cook. 😉
6. Walking outside when the weather permits.  I LOVE to walk outside when the sun is shining and the temps are hovering around 20 degrees.  Every step and every breath makes me feel alive.
7. I pour a cup of tea and pour over seed magazines, thinking ahead to the next season's garden.  The last 2 years have been a bit erratic in terms of production, so I will be thinking of ways to amend the soil.
8. Fresh flowers in the house always make me smile….it reminds me that Spring is not too far away.
9. I pay the deposit for our Cape Cod vacation.  It's hard to shell out the money in the depth of winter, but it's a deposit that I am happy to send off.  Someday I will live there, but until then, this is the next best thing.
10. I embrace and enjoy the general hunkering down that winter gives us permission to do.  Putting on pajamas early, reading and relaxing earlier in the night.  Enjoying the twinkling lights and hearing the sounds of the furnace that keeps us warm. Trying new recipes both in the kitchen and in the shop.  A little weaving and a little spinning.  Winter gives us permission to slow down and I like that about winter.

Even though I had a rough winter last year, that was the exception.  This winter is on track for being another enjoyable winter…well as enjoyable as a winter can be.

What do you do to embrace winter?

Today's Ten on Tuesday's subject is Resolutions, Intentions or Goals for the upcoming year.

I used to make resolutions for the New Year, but as I have gotten older, I have moved towards embracing goals and good intentions instead.  If I accomplish them, then I am pleasantly surprised and if I don't, I haven't failed.
As the new year approached I sat down and thought about the year that had past and realized that I had indeed accomplished more than I realized and was pleasantly surprised.
So here goes my list of goals for 2015

1.  Get more familiar with forms of social media, such as Instagram, Twitter, etc, without spending more time than I already do on the computer.

2. Better time management….see above.  Facebook, Ravelry and Pinterest can be time wastelands.

3.  Spend as much time as I can squeeze in with my grandchildren.

4.  Continue to be more mindful of living a healthy lifestyle.

5. Spend more time working on my website while keeping time management in the back of my mind.  I'm thnking that maybe setting a timer might be a good way to accomplish time on the computer.

6.  Knitting more

7.  Exploring further education

8.  Exploring meditation….to quiet the monkeys that chatter in my brain.

9.  Worry less and spend more time relaxing.  Sounds easy, but so hard at times.

10.  …and I am going to steal this from Carole because I love it!  Try new things. Make mistakes. Be bold. Change. Grow!

~ What are your goals for the upcoming year?