The Laurel Leaf

One week old!

Welcome to our world, Alexandria Arlene, Heidi and Billy.  We are a bit of a crazy family, but we have lots of love to share!

Five for Friday

Thanks, Miz Booshay!

1. What was the best book you read last year?  The two latest were Marley and Me and 1776.  Both were really good.

2. What was the best movie you saw last year?  The most exciting movie I saw was Vantage Point.  Very exciting every minute.  And it was done in a very interesting way, from several different vantage points.  And for pure fun, I absolutely loved Mama Mia!

3. What is your favorite television show?  Dexter is probably at the top of my list followed closely by My Boys, Brothers and Sisters, and The Starter Wife.

4. How many children did you want when you were little and how many do you actually have? I, an only child, wanted nine kids when I was growing up, even after I had had my own children.  I settled for three, then got three bonus children when I married Jack.  Now we are getting daughters- and sons-in-law, so I will be over 9 soon! Hoo hoo!

5. Cats or Dogs?  Having had now both cats AND dogs, I still favor dogs.  Especially bigger dogs, like my Maggie, a golden retriever.  Bigger dogs just seem more like friends than the little ones.  And I've had a Maltese, so I've experienced both.  I do love my Annie and Abbie cats, but will probably never get another cat.

Friday Fill-in

1. Snow _snow, snow, snow, snow; welcome to beautiful West Michigan____.

2. I'm looking forward to __going home to take a nap and getting rid of this niggly cold___.

3. __Jack___ is the best __husband___ ever!

4. One of my favorite old tv shows is __The Waltons___.

5. I'm done with __having to worry about little children and their issues.  Now I can just enjoy my grandchildren!___.

6. The most enjoyable thing around the holidays is __family get-togethers___.

Childhood comfort food

When I was young, I had two favorite treats.  One I learned from my Aunt Ruth.  Very simple, just buttered bread sprinkled liberally with sugar!  We just called it sugar bread and she made it for me whenever we went over to her house.  The other was Tea Kettle Tea.  My grandma and grandpa made this for me, as did my mom.  Again, very simple, just milk, hot water from a tea kettle and sugar.  Somehow I felt very grownup drinking this hot drink.  What made me think of this?  Watching the snow come down outside and reading blogs that talk about bundling up when we were young.  I wonder if little kids today would be happy with sugar bread and tea kettle tea?

Must be a knitter

Two things say I must be a knitter.  I've completely brainwashed a friend at the school and she has become knitting obssessed.  And this is the 5 day forecast from our local station:

 

Knitting weather!

TGIF! (and i don't mean the restaurant!)

Long week.  Still feeling not well enough to feel good but not bad enough to feel sick.  Know that feeling?  I'm stealing this from Miz Booshay's blog today:

1. My blueprint for success includes __having a relationship with God___.
2. __A Take Five candy bar____ was the last candy I ate.
3. The best facial moisturizer I've ever used is ___Oil of Olay___.
4. ____Crying____ can be good therapy.
5. I'd like to tell you about ___my grandkids____.
6. ___Being a good listener_____ is my strongest characteristic.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to __watching our Tivoed programs, knitting and going to bed early___, tomorrow my plans include __watching college football, knitting and going to see our school play___ and Sunday, I want to __make a great dinner and knit___!

Friday Five!

From Miz Booshay at Quiet Life:

1. Is it dark out?

At 10:43 AM, it is supposed to be light, but it is very cloudy and rainy, so it's not so very much light!

2. How old were you when you got married?

Which time?  Yes, I am the Zsa Zsa Gabor in my group of people.  But I did get it right with my man Jack.  Best husband ever!  To answer the question, 20 (divorce inevitable, too young), 31 (divorce inevitable, bad choice in the first place), and 39!  Hoo hoo, got it right!

3. Curly hair or straight hair?

Straight, straight, straight.  And like all girls with straight hair, I envy the curls!

4. V8 or Orange Juice?

OJ.  Just don't like my tomatoes in a juice.  Any other way, yes.  Juice, no.

5. Favorite late night talk show?

Late night?  Is there such a thing?  This is a morning girl answering these, so 9 PM is late for me!

Yikes!

Still here!  It's been quite a whirlwind for me this school year.  Last June, my co-worker retired and I took on most of her job, while giving away a bit of my job.  And boy, does she have big shoes to fill!  I'm just getting to a point where I can even think about posting anything (like this brief blurb) and I'm not falling asleep in my chair by 6:00 PM every night!  Bear with me and I will have actual knitting content!

Yahoo!

Kaleb, there will be a package on its way to you this week!  And guess what is in it??  Your blanket from Grandma Laura!  I'm so happy I finished it before your first birthday.  And since fall is coming, even though it doesn't really get too cold in Florida, you'll have a nice blanket to sleep under when the evenings cool off a bit.  It's really soft, too!  Plus, see what else we are sending you?

Don't worry, he's not a real bear!  Just pretend.  He can keep you company when you are sleeping under the blanket!  And you can read about him in the book.  The next time we come and see you, Grandma and Grandma will read it to you, but until then we'll let Mommy and Daddy read it to you.  We love you, sweetheart!

For my knitting friends, here is a picture of the blanket drying after it's bath.

It's probably about three feet by five feet, a nice size for a one year old!  I used Knit Picks ShineSport in the Sky color.  I love this yarn!  So very soft.  I used Russian joins for the first time and they seem to hold up nicely.  I took this blanket to work on at Justin's last chemo treatment and left the pattern in the room.  I called but they couldn't find it.  Fortunately, I was in the last section before the ribbing, which was easy to do without the pattern.  I would make this again, but I think instead of revising the pattern to add stitches to make it bigger, I will use a bit larger needle.  Little needles take a long time when you're working on a blanket!  I got so excited the other day.  In my new knitting magazine, there was a sweater that used the same stitch as one of those in the blanket.  You can't see it well in the picture of the blanket, but it was fun seeing it somewhere else!  Now, back to Rogue for my daughter!  Kim, this won't take as long as the blanket to finish now, I promise!

Our boy!

Yesterday was Justin's last chemo treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma.

He had a ton of support during this process.  Prayer partners all across the country, family, friends, work, medical staff.  Yesterday his fiancee Carrie was there (as she was at every treatment), his mom and step-dad were there, his sister and brother-in-law were there, Jack and I were there, and I know his sisters Angela and Kim and brother Michael were there in spirit!  Dr. Batts and Gwen at the Cancer and Hematology Center of West Michigan in Holland were awesome throughout this process.  Yesterday they gave Justin a bottle of non-alcoholic bubbly to mark the occasion.  Afterwards we went out for lunch to celebrate.

It was a VERY good day!