Moving Day!

Hello everyone - well, I have made the BIG move over to wordpress.com - head on over and see! I still have some housekeeping things to do, but I will be waiting for your arrival! Here is the link http://askatknits.wordpress.com/

See you there!

Bloomin' Mother's Day!

Hello everyone! Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there! It is a beautiful day here - and it was such a blessing to have 2 of my kids with me to worship today. An even bigger blessing, to take communion with them. This was a great way to start the day. We had a nice dinner - and they were off to their dad's house.

Hope you are all having a wonderful day - filled with blessings of children and all that goes with them.

My Heidi made the Chamber Orchestra - this is an audition only orchestra at her school. After much hard work and practice - she made it on Friday! Here is a "hurrah" to Heidi for making this one pround mom! You are amazing, Heidi.

Did you all have a nice weekend? I did some house cleaning on Saturday morning - and Saturday afternoon I sat in the sun and knit! At LONG last my BF socks are complete. How do they look?

They will be blocking shortly and winging their way to their deserving recipient. I have truly loved knitting these socks for my pal. Each stitch was lovingly done - she is truly an amazing person. I am eager to see if she likes them!! The color and the pattern will suit her to a "T".

Here is to all of us moms having an awesome afternoon - blessings to all of you!

5 Minutes for Mom is having a Mother's Day Giveaway - stop on over and check it out!

Welcoming Friday - it has been a long week!

Hello everyone! I am certainly glad that it is finally Friday! It has been an infinitely long week! Last night I went to Knit Night - I had missed the past couple of weeks due to other commitments - and it was soooo good to be back! I love seeing what everyone is working on - Ann was working on her Tulip Socks, AnnMarie was knitting a beautiful bag to be felted, Ruby was knitting a baby sweater for the shop, Barb was finishing up her second bucket bag - a gift for her daughter for Christmas, Karen was seaming up her first Wallaby!

Okay - when I grow up, I want to be as organized as Barb!! Christmas gifts in May!!! Plus, Barb will be retiring in June - how exciting for her!

For myself - I was working furiously on my BF socks. I managed to get quite a bit done - I have 3 repeats before I start my toe decreases. I hope to knit at lunch today - and then the weekend comes and I have nothing on the agenda!! So, this mother requests for Mother's Day - uninterrupted knitting time!!

Tulip Time has been moving along - outside of a few traffic hassles - it has been a fairly uneventful week. The weather certainly has cooperated - this is good for all those visitors to our fair and blooming city. This year we had a bumper crop of tulips!! All that cold weather in March and April certainly helped that out! For all of you out there who have never been to Holland in May - our city plants over a million tulips - springtime here is truly a thing of beauty.

What are all of your plans for your Mother's this weekend? Come out of hiding and share with me what your plans are - I might have a prize for a randomly selected commenter!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Tulip Time!

Hello Everyone. Well, it is Tulip Time here in Holland - and we are gearing up for a big week. My plan is to work out of town on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday! Avoid the traffic on the big days! There will be parades, street scrubbing, bands, and miles and miles and miles of tulips.

It has been a productive weekend here.... my dinner companion has been "fixing" things for me around the house! Curiouser and curiouser, he seems quite handy and even tempered. He was even patient with me to watch the Kentucky Derby on Saturday afternoon - hats and all!!

I had drawn this line in the sand about what would be acceptable and unacceptable in my next relationship - if there ever was one. You all know - those qualities of the "perfect imaginary man". My list was quite long and included things like must listen to NPR, loves to dance, listen to jazz, like teenagers and dogs. Well, this line I had has been moving - there are times when I cannot even find my line!! I have been laughing much, feeling special, and had some quite intense conversations. He has introduced me to his family and it all feels so "alright". I enjoy his teasing sense of humor and his smile. He was not what I was looking for - but I think he is what I need.

Well - I had better get off here and enjoy what remains of this truly lovely Sunday. Wishing everyone a wonderful week!

Ciao dall'Italia (Hello from Italy)

I am a lucky participant in Lynne's Special Swap and travel genius Lu sent me off to Italy!

Ciao dall'Italia! La LU bella lo ha trasmesso fuori su un viaggio bello in Italia. Ci erano tesori dappertutto e non potrei chiedere un agente migliore di corsa. La LU proviene dall'Italia in modo da lo ha trasmesso a tutti i suoi posti favoriti!

Translation: Hello from Italy! The lovely Lu sent me off on a beautiful journey to Italy. There were treasures everywhere and I could not have asked for a better travel agent. Lu is from Italy so she sent me to all of her favorite places!

As you can see - Lu sent me some amazing goodies! Zara Plus and Karabella yarns in awesome colors! Sensibilità così morbida e squisita! An incredible idee & filati magazine with some amazing patterns inside, molto chic. Some lovely, much needed, note cards - semplicemente perfetto! And, last but not least, some incredible Italian chocolates. Wow, erano squisiti oltre le parole! My kids loved them!

LU, grazie, li ringraziano, li ringraziano per essere così socio stupefacente di scambio! Adored il pacchetto ed il viaggio!

I wonder what Lynne has planned for the next 2 months!

On the life front - work has been insanely busy. I have worked until 8 or 9 PM most nights this week. Plus, I have had kid comittments to squeeze in. On top of all of that - I came down with a "Spring Cold"... that has left me feeling, as Garrison Keilor would say, "mighty puny". Plus - last weekend, I watched my girlfriends 2 year old son - Alex. This mom of teenagers had "amnesia" for how quickly a toddler can get into something. Before I knew it, young Alex had "frogged" my second Bloomin' Feet sock! Now, mind you - I was almost the the toe decreases!! AARRGGHH!!!!!! I am sure you all probably heard my mournful wail! Alex certainly thought it was fun - this might be the way to frog all items - the pain is not slow, but quick! Of course, the number of tangles in the yarn was exponentially increased with the number of times he moved as he frogged. Can you say tangled mess? I'd have gotten a picture - but I could not find the camera. Suffice it to say - I have cast on again and I am about an inch from the heel flap. What is on my agenda for the weekend? Can you say knitting!?! For all you bloomin' feet participants who are reading - be patient my sock pal - it shall arrive next week! And, I have an "Alex Ban" in effect until the sock is cast off!

On top of all of this - there is some good news on the personal front. I have been having some dinners with what seems to be a very nice gentleman (that sounds old doesn't it?). I am intrigued with him - and looking for flaws. I have not seen any that are scaring me to date. He has a good sense of humor - makes intelligent conversation - works - and he has a big goofy dog. He seems more than a bit interested in me - which amazes me. LOL. I am a middle aged, slightly overweight (okay, this may be an under exageragtion, but it is my blog! LOL) and I have 3 teenaged children. I find this frightening myself! He is 3 years younger than me - and I am very surprised our paths have not crossed before. We have many mutual friends. In fact, it was through a mutual friend that we were introduced. For now - it is nice to have dinner with someone occasionally. We have also been going for long walks on Sunday afternoons - which has been a much needed activity in my life. For now, I am enjoying myself. One day at a time.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

PS - if you are wondering about my Italian - go check out www.altavista.com, Babel Fish is a wonderful tool!

I am a travelin' girl...

Hello everyone! I had a great weekend here in sunny, warm Western Michigan! Yes - you read that right - sunny and warm! The leaves are popping out on the trees, the birds are singing, flowers are blooming! It appears that spring has decided to stay!!

I got a wonderful package from my Special Swap pal - I will post pictures from my journey tonight. It is an awesome package of goodies - incredible yarny goodness!! More later on this.

My package will go out today - if my day goes as planned! I got a few calls over the weekend with some things to take care of this morning - but I have planned the day as a "paper catch up day".

More later on my weekend adventures!