Day 3′s challenge is HANDS….

I don’t have pretty hands. They are great for knitting. Great for holding a book. Great for gardening. Great for wrapping packages, baking, using the mouse to look at other people’s blogs and still neglect my own, great for teaching small children. But they aren’t pretty…

I am a type 1 diabetic, and my hands show the scars of finger pricks. ~ Pharmacist every other month: “You take your blood sugar 6-10 times a day!?!”  Yes, my favorite Target Pharmacist… I do. It’s my life line. The only way I know exactly how I’m doing and what is wrong with me. I’d much rather have to prick my finger and take extra insulin, or have to eat a snack than wind up in a hospital in a coma, or with an IV….

SO, my hands are not pretty. They are not very girly (as much as I’d like them to be light and delicate.) But they work hard. And I love them.

Oh hi!! Remember that blog challenge? You know, the one that involved this:

Yeah…

This one.

Well, I suck.  SO, today is:

May 2, 2012.

FEBRUARY’s blog challenge called for words on the second day. That challenge stumped me. I wanted a Bible verse. I wanted my favorite fiction book. I wanted words that have a powerful message.

I’m settling for the words: May 2, 2012. PRIORITIZED DAILY TASK LIST.  Because, apparently, I need one. Otherwise, nothing gets done. These words most definitely have a powerful message: This blogger is a procrastinating nutjob.

Until next time…

February 1 Photo Challenge called for a photo of your view today. Well, it’s February 1. I live in Kansas. Shouldn’t my view look a lot like this?

This is a photo of the snow from last year. It’s beautiful, and I love to look at it (from inside our nice, warm home… wrapped in footie pajamas, and a snuggie, and a double fleece blanket. ) Well, I was kidding about the snuggie.

This year, our view has been like this:

No snow. Perfect temperatures. Beautiful days to be outside. SUNSHINE!

This is a view from our front porch today.

And here’s a view from the other side, a bit later in the day.

I love Kansas…

Hey!

Hey you!!

You’ve heard of this right?

I sure hope so. Because, otherwise this whole blog project I’m starting won’t make much sense.  So, let me draw  insert a picture to help  explain what I’m doing here:

See this cute little chart? I found it on Pinterest. I’ll be taking this challenge. The only problem?  I’m a bit of a “LET’s START THIS, IT’LL BE GREAT!” two weeks later… “Oh… I forgot, I was going to do blank, blah blah blah, too much laundry…” kind of girl. SO… If I start this challenge, and don’t finish it till April, don’t be surprised.

]]> http://coffeeandknits.com/?feed=rss2&p=116 0 http://coffeeandknits.com/?p=108 http://coffeeandknits.com/?p=108#comments Mon, 04 Jul 2011 00:40:51 +0000 coffeeandknits http://coffeeandknits.com/?p=108

Yesterday, after going to an overpiced garage sale with the eBay Queen.

Definitely overpriced.

I thought I was going to get a box full of yarn ~ not beautiful yarn, just old acrylic for 3.00. When I went to purchase said yarn, a bag of tan and ivory yarn was pulled out and priced at an addition 5.00. Not exactly the bargain I was hoping for.

ANYWAY. We came home to find a bunch of these little buggers on the bee balm I had planted last year.

First: Look at the bee balm:

The blooms are a little old (they’ve been out for almost 2 weeks), but they are still beautiful.

See, I found it growing in the back of our property, and planted 4 super skinny stalks of it last year. 4 single stalks. This year they have taken over the garden, and appear to have cross-pollinated with the pink dwarf bee balm to create a super tall fuschia colored flower! It is amazing!

Rosie loves them too. Don’t mind the weeds… or the pixel ridden photo. I’m trying Picasa out, and well… may have gotten a little carried away with the sharpening tool.

But I digress….

When the queen and I came home, we saw about 20 of these:

Looks like a honeybee, right?

Look again:

Now it looks like a baby hummingbird!

Now it looks like a bee again…

Because I’m a nerd. And because I like to learn about goofy things, I did some research and looked these bad boys up.

Apparently, this is called a hummingbird moth! There are several different species, but our lovely Kansas bee balm pollenating buggies are called Snowberry Clearwing Humminbird Moths. They are just babies as they can get up to 2 inches in size. (I saw some of the larger moths yesterday, but they little ones were around for me to photograph today.)

I think they are pretty darn cute.

Did you watch Oprah’s Farewell show?

I thought it was unbelievable. I am sad I missed out on so much! I was too young to care during the ’90′s, and anything after that, Spongebob, Arthur and the like have ruled 4:00 television.

She showed a few clips from her old shows, and this is one that really hit me.

"Be responsible for the energy you bring to this room."

Or this home.

Or this restaurant.

Or this grocery store.

Or this church.

Or this life.

Be conscientious about the way you treat, act and respond towards people.

Wow.

Amen.

Small children don’t like to clean their rooms.

C. and Q. have been assigned by mom (the eBayQueen) and Dad (TVMan,) to clean their room.

Mom and Dad have left me to watch the boys while they set up staging for Youth Sunday at church tomorrow.

Do you know what I’ve heard

Over.

And over.

And over again?

Every three to five minutes?

"Rachel? Can I have a break?"

No.

No.

No.

NO!

GO UPSTAIRS AND CLEAN!!

"Rachel? Can you call the dog?"

ELVIS!!

Who? Me?

(Elvis is the newest addition to the family. More to come on him and his story another time.)

ELVIS DROP THE SOCK/BABY TOY (more to come on him another time too)/CAT!!!…. okay, he hasn’t grabbed the cat, but anything else he can find….)

SIT!!

STAY!

All of this has left me feeling a bit like this…

Please come home quick parents.

Bring food.

And wine….

Maybe not…. how about coffee?

Recently, amidst all the crazy stuff going on in our household (new baby brother, incredibly ill momma, not so emotionally stable Rachel trying to do just a few of the things The eBay Queen usually does… by the way, her job is REALLY exhausting!) I did find time to read a great book!

Sabriel by Garth Nix

Normally, I wouldn’t say I was into the whole magic/fantasy genre, but this book has quite a few references to death and the dead…I love a good ghost story. Maybe that’s how I dealt with the whole fantasy thing. Whatever it was, I loved this book.

I came about reading it when I learned I am library scum and have to go get my card re-activated because of THIS book:

Yeah… that’s right Baby Q, this was YOUR book… and I found it hidden under your bed. Little comic book nerd. ♥

Anyway, I decided to clean out some of the books I’ve had sitting on my shelves waiting to be read. Sabriel has sat  on my shelf for some time now, (like six or seven years) and finally decided to read it. It kept me intrigued from beginning to end… I had never heard of necromancy before I read this book. Apparently, it was quite popular in the age of the renaissance, and involved bells (just as in the book), magic circles and all kinds of other interesting stuff. Just look it up on wikipedia. Real life necromancers were some freaky dudes! Sabriel was a great book. It takes you along Sabriel’s quest to find her father (both body and spirit), save the world, fall in love and find out how strong she really is. I just found out there are two more books in this series! I will be checking those out soon! Highly recommended reading for anyone into adventure/paranormal/fantasy.

Sunday night, I finally finished a specially requested knit alligator.  Q wanted "a green alligator with an open mouth and teeth, and green spots."  After much searching, I was finally able to find said alligator, minus the spots, in the book  Knitted Toys by Zoe Mellor.  

Time out for Fluffy.

I’m not sure what I’ll be knitting next.  I’ll have made my decision by next Wednesday… I think.