Washing Machine?

Von- keep up the good work of making your kids do their own laundry . You are a credit to motherhood as I , obviously, am not!
Tomorrow, we have friends who are coming for the day. I was baking a lemon meringue pie ,when I realized that the fridge was full and I would have to turn on the small fridge to store the pie. I called to my older son to bring an extension cord and to plug in the fridge, "but" I said " plug it into the outlet where the washer is and not the outlet where the dryer is plugged in. " He looked me strait in the eye and asked "Which one is the washer?"

Pictures are of pie in small fridge, and 16 year old who is focused on x box and doesn't know the difference between a washer and a dryer!

A picture of Ash and some sort of related bits.

Here, for your enjoyment is a picture of Ashleigh ( I really, really have to learn how to do that clickable link thing) . I took this picture back in September when Cheryl and I met Barbara and Ashleigh in Amsterdam and we went out for dinner at the Hardrock Cafe. I have been wanting to post this picture since I took it- because I think it is a really pretty picture of Ashleigh. I also want to mention ,once again, that I had a fab time the time we were in Amsterdam and that the dinner with Cheryl, Barbara and Ashleigh was the "dot on the i " this is a translation from German and sounds stupid in English ,but you know what I mean. The second reason for posting this picture is that I am going to have to use "old" pix until I can figure out how to reformat the memory chip/card in my camera- or buy a new one. The one in there is full and I am not sure which will come first, either I will figure out the reformat thing or I will give in drive to Media Markt , where they can hopefully, tell me what I need. P.S. for Ash. The Valentine's cakes you made yesterday- too cute!

I had planned a picture of the flowers my husband managed to send me from The Congo. I was feeling a little weepy yesterday- which is getting close to being my standard state- when I got home from the Dr (again!) the box with the flowers was waiting on my doorstep. I promptly burst into tears. I didn't think he would manage , as I know that he has had problems with his internet connection.
Yesterday , I read a lot of blogs and comments about how Valentine's day is so commercial and we should show our love to our.. well.. loved ones every day. While I totally agree with this and I also believe in spreading Valentine's around- it is not just for couples- I want to wish everyone a happy Valentine's Day.
I have another take on it as well. Sometimes, I am glad for the "commercialism" of the day as it gives me the kick in the butt to sit down and send some ecards- let people know that I am thinking about them. This can only be good- right? Also, my husband is home so seldom that I never expect him to clean the bathroom ( he was a great diaper changer though) and while I don't place a value on myself based on if I receive flowers on Valentine's Day or not , it is nice to know that my husband was/is thinking of me.

On a whole different front- I just spoke with a physical therapist and have an appointment for a check up and a private Nordic Walking lesson. I have to do this. I need to lose weight. I need to exercise, I need to get out of the house and I need more fresh air.

Birthday bowling

Hera are a couple of pictures of the boys bowling . This was Patrick's little birthday party. We all had a fun time and Alexander is getting to be a pretty good bowler. Afterwards we came home and and I made tacos. Sorry - this is an incredibly boring post and I can't think of any way to make it interesting ,but as I uploaded the photos I am just going to leave it.

Pix!!

Okay - here are the missing pictures from yesterday. Didn't Cheryl do a fantastic job on the felted bag? it is so pretty- I am just not sure what to use it for as I want to use it for something, where I will see it often.
The other picture shows my foot stool, with some knitting and the cool sock needle holders Cheryl sent. On the right is a finished sock, on the left is the second of these ONT. In one of the needle holders is a half sock , from the second I left one end open so that you can see how it works. Fun stuff!
My sister received and liked the socks I sent her for her birthday- which was yesterday- she said the socks fit and both she and Holly (her cat) approved the colorway.

Speaking of colorways- yes, I changed my blog template. Blue is and always has been my favorite color, every few years I take a dive into pink or purple ,but in the end I always come back to blue.

A Pictureless post- for the moment.

I had a lovely box of goodies come from Cheryl yesterday. A felted bag that she made, a sampler book and some really, really , cool needle holders for when you put down your socks that you are knitting on DPN's .
There were some sweatshirts for the kids as well, but while that's very nice, it's not very exciting for you :-)
Anyway ,I wanted to photograph the felt bag which is a wonderful purple and green , I even wandered around with it to try and find an "artistic" place to make the photo, as opposed to most of my photos which I just take on the table. Sometimes I stand on a chair to get a good one ;-)

I have an ivy plant which I am training around a big heart shaped form and I thought: A ha- perfect. But, my camera was dead. The plug for the cradle goes under my desk and I probably stepped on it and pulled it out. I have killed a couple of headsets this way. The cables get wrapped around my leg and then I walk away and pull on them in ways they were not made to withstand. I have however plugged the camera cradle back in and it seems to be loading. Hopefully in a couple of hours I can take my "artistic" pictures. It might be too dark by then though...
In the meantime I am going to drive to the store. I was just there an hour ago. I want to make chicken pot pie for dinner . I looked up a recipe , made a shopping list and forgot to buy....chicken!

Stitching knitting content

For those who come for stitching, knitting content-- here it is. Finished and mailed these socks for my sister's birthday- I hope they fit and she likes them. The leg bit is quite long - the cuffs are folded over, but if she has on high boots she can leave them unfolded. I also received and STARTED on Su's neighborhood RR. I will complete this on time!!!

Happy Birthday Pacman

Yes, it is Patrick's birthday and yes, he opened presents before school- before breakfast even. Michael, Alexander and I gifted him with a couple of band T-shirts ( have you heard of System of a Down?) , a duvet, pillow case set with a print from some heavy metal band and a new, bigger (read louder) amplifier .
The Duvet cover has a horrible print of some boney, thing with a hatchet and and dripping blood. Eddy, Freddy ? from Iron maiden? Anybody know this? Anybody want to admit to knowing this? I am not sure I can sleep with such a thing in the house. I am sure I would not be able to sleep under it ,but then I am not a 14 year old boy. I was even a good mommy and baked a cake yesterday and did not wait until this afternoon to try and bake in a panic, between my English lessons. Dinner, at Patricks request, is a huge platter of nachos.