My very favoritest scarf works up quickly and easily and is a very gratifying gift to give (and equally, if not more, gratifying to keep and wear — oh how selfish I am!). Details on The Worm Scarf, originally created by Julie Weisenberger, can be found on my Ravelry page. It works up most beautifully in Farmhouse Yarn’s Lumpy Bumpy which is a fantastic, textured wool yarn. I first became familiar with it at the Hen House in Spring, Texas, but I’m not sure if they carry that line anymore. The blue scarf pictured above, however, was worked up in a more readily available, less-expensive yarn: Lion Brand Homespun. It is so soft and pretty but I must admit that I love the Lumpy Bumpy wool better (pictured in the Cherry Pie colorway from Farmhouse Yarns).
Tag Archives: Texas
The Texas Renaissance Festival
Our first time at the Ren Fest was FANTASTIC! We loved it. The place is huge, the entertainment is vast and varied, and each of the kids found something interesting to make it a great night. Gabe loved the dragon items, Jack enjoyed the jousting, and Cole claims to have enjoyed just being with his family (cough, cough, I think he liked the belly dancers best). I highly recommend the place for lots of entertainment. We are glad it was a relatively colder day so that many of the girls were more covered up than usual, probably!
Nebraska: The Good Life
I’m sitting in the car, blogging on the laptop, windows down, 75 degrees outside and breezy — THE BREEZE! — it seems there are never breezes in Houston. None of us wants to go back to Texas. I can’t even call it “home” — too hot, too many bugs. We are enjoying Nebraska and Iowa so much that even the kids don’t want to leave (and Cole’s spent a month on Papa & Nana’s floor!). The little boys have been rotating couches and seem to be fine. It’s amazing how kids can adjust. Three more days in heaven and then we head back to the sauna known as Houston. It will be great to see Don again — I think if he wasn’t there, we’d just move in and I’d enroll the kids in Ralston. Sure, we’d miss Gretna but I’d do just about anything to stay here. So many great friends are here, too. It was great to see ALMOST everyone. There were a few friends and family we missed. One thing is for sure: we’ll be back! Plus, we’ll be just as annoying and stay just as long!!!
Hoe Down (it’s Texas Day)
Last Friday was Texas Day…or something like that. I have videos to upload but meanwhile, check out the pics on our Flickr account.
Mercer Arboretum in Spring, Texas
We had a great time at the Mercer Arboretum last weekend. Here are some of the pictures but you can see them all at our flickr account.
Jack’s eyes in this one crack me up!
It’s such a beautiful area that people go there to take just about every kind of picture (choir, wedding, etc.). We stumbled upon a crowd of people with matching shirts, cowboy hats and boots. They looked so neat! Then we saw what they were there for: the most beautiful 15 year old hispanic girl. I guess it’s a tradition. All I know is she was luminous. They had two Hummer limos and it was very ceremonial looking. I snapped a couple of shots because I had just never seen anything like it before!
House Hunting in Houston
We found a country home we love but there’s one problem: it’s just too small! It’s the one affordable (if you think $244K is affordable) house among half a million dollar homes on acreages in Magnolia. My heart started pitter-pattering when we approached and as we went to the front porch, a baby deer scampered off into the backyard gated portion where it frantically tried to get out. The poor thing couldn’t find its way out of the gated acreage and scurried around the edge the entire time we were inside. I thought it might have a heart attack (can that happen to wildlife?!). So we explored the inside of the home which is just as charming as the outside – a sunroom, large master with closet but only 2 bedrooms upstairs. As we were leaving, mama deer was just on the other side of the fence trying to help her baby find her way out – how sweet is that?!
Contract Signed – Prayers for Closing!
We have a signed contract and signed counter offer. Now, pray that all goes smoothly (don’t you think we deserve some of that smoothness?) through closing. It has been a rough year. We have learned much about our limitations, of which there are many. Showing a large house with 4 boys for 10 months has been no easy task, and the last month without hubby has been lonely. Those who love me best outright lie and say that I’ve handled it very well. I highly doubt that, but my only real benchmarks are: nobody’s dead, the house did get clean enough to sell and we all made it to church on time most of the time. Even if one week Ben was in his camoflauge rain boots (it was National Rain Boots Week, didn’t you hear?). I am now in MESS mode – living proof that we do have lives and we don’t have to clean all the time!!! I will NEVER apologize for a messy house again – I will be proud to LIVE there with my complicated, busy life. Socks and shoes strung out all over the mudroom means that my kids are here, alive, healthy and playing and remembered to take their shoes off – good kids that they are. Books and magazines strewn about means we have a little time to sit. And think. And ponder. And perhaps even learn something. It’s only day one but I have high hopes for days 2, 3 and beyond…here comes SUMMER!!! I say, bring it on!!!
p.s. The clematis pic is from our backyard deck – we will miss some of the plants we have babied for six years. Don found a replacement “vine” in Texas but it was a little too Little-Shop-Of-Horrors looking for me!
Kid Funnies: Jack & Texas, Gabe & the Furnace
We were talking about how diverse the kids’ new school district will most likely be when we move to Houston as compared to Gretna, Nebraska. Jack proclaimed with much disappointment, “We’re going to be Texans?!? I wanted to be German!” He then went on to proclaim “No, no…I really wanted to be Egyptian!”
Cole informed me that when Gabe walked in from school he proclaimed, “Oh, yeah, baby! The furnace is working!” Cole thought it was funny because most of the time people only say anything about the furnace when it’s broken.
Where do they come up with this stuff???