Best friends are one of the biggest blessings...

My best friend came to visit. We went on vacation and had a marvelous time. We have been friends for about 15 years. Our lives had been bounded by God, I truly believe that. Here are some of the things we have in common:

- Met at a small church in Costa Rica 15 years ago.

- Both of us were single mothers when we met.

- Our children were about the same age.

- We ourselves are the same age. 

- We got married years later and came to the US with our husband.

Coincidence? There is no such a thing when you believe in Jesus. When your life is in God's hands... I feel blessed to have such a close friend for such a long time. I hope we continue to be friends until we go to be with the Lord. Not a lot of people can experience a blessing like this. 

Thank you Jesus!

Mi mejor amiga vino a visitarme. Nos conocimos en Costa Rica hace 15 anos. Tenemos mucho en comun: la misma edad, las dos eramos madres solteras cuando nos conocimos, las dos nos casamos anos despues y vinimos a los E.U. con nuestros maridos, nuestros hijos mayores son de la misma edad, etc...  Coincidencia? No lo creo. Cuando tu vida esta en las manos de Dios no existen las coincidencias. Ella es realmente un regalo de Dios para mi vida. Gracias Senor!

One sock done!

Finally, one sock is done! I already casted on for the second one. I am dyeing to make something else but I know that if I don't stick to one project I will never finish anything. 

I love how the two circulars don't leave a gap in between like the double points do. Can you see the gap in the middle of the bottom of the sock? you can see were the circulars started because the gap disappears after the last black stripe. 

I love how the sock turned out except that I wish I had had more yarn to make the leg higher but I went as far as I could calculating having enough yarn to finish the second sock. 

Ya terminé una media y comencé la segunda. Me gusta mucho como quedó.

FELIZ NAVIDAD/ Merry Christmas

Desde California les deseamos a todos una muy Feliz Navidad y que Dios nuestro Señor los llene de bendiciones hoy y siempre.

Merry Christmas and blessings to all of our friends and family. May God bless you all richly.

A treasure of knitting videos by Cat Bordhi in UTube

I am still working in the sock. Yes, the same sock, not the second sock but the first and only sock I have been working on since July that my dad came to visit. Yes, part if the baby and part the tedious 5 needle knitting that makes it go so slow and part is the super fine gauge of 8.5 stitches bla bla bla.... more excuses... bla bla bla.

So, a couple of days ago I read an article from my email subscription to KNITTING DAILY about how this lady became a sockaholic when she found out how much easier it was to knit socks in two circulars instead of double points. I have tried to use two circulars before but I just couldn't figure it out. So I started to google about it and voila! 

I found a video in UTube posted by Cat Bordhi herself:

 

Needless to say I started to knit with two circulars yesterday and I am loving it! the sock is going so much faster!

Check out Cat's wonderful videos for anything you want to learn, they are a true treasure and the best part is... they are free!!!

Thank you so much Cat, you rock!

Caylee Anthony didn't have to die...

I just had to say something about this case because this little girl has been in my heart since day one. I wish someone will bring to people's attention what this case is really about. This case is about a young woman who is unfit to be mother and since pregnant was not up to be a parent or had any desire to rise a child. She was going to give this baby in adoption and her parents pretty much forced her to keep the baby. Big mistake! I think there is a huge need for easy anonymous routes to give children in adoption far pass the first days of birth. This will save children from all kinds of abuse. Also the adoption process needs to be completely redesigned as to make the process easier and inexpensive. With the average adoption process in the US been around $20,000 so many families who will be great adoption candidates are left out. I don't want to blame the grandmother of this child but I think that if she wanted to keep Caylee she should have adopted her granddaughter herself and ask full custody of her instead of forcing Casey to take responsibility of a child she never wanted in the first place. Not that this justifies in any way killing the child of course. It is just so sad, that such a beautiful child had to end up like that, in a plastic bag. It really brakes my heart.

They said in the news that Casey had told her friends that her mother told her she was an unfit mother several times... That means that the grandma new something was wrong. She should have acted to protect the child instead of trying to force Casey to be what she was not. Anyways poor lady I don't want to give her a hard time, I can only imagine her suffering, giving the fact that it was probably she the one that had rise that baby for the most part. 

Most of us parents are in denial when our children don't turn out to be what we expected. And this family continues to be in denial to this day. I think it is that parental denial that frame Caylee's dead.  

I just wish there was a system that would have allowed Casey to give this child up very easily to caring adopting parents. The problem right now is that if the mother does not give the newborn to the authorities right away or within a few days of the birth, giving up a baby or small child is nearly impossible. Wouldn't it be better to let parents give up their unwanted children at anytime? So many children would have a better life if they could be with people who can love them instead of been treated like a "holdback" or a "nuisance".

I could be wrong but I bet there are plenty of people wanting to adopt, enough to match the amount of unwanted children, if the system was easier and cheaper for both parts. And there were no limits on age to give up a baby.

Am I crazy for thinking this way? 

Aunt Ann's visit

J's aunt Ann came to visit! we hadn't seen in her in years! It was great to have her over. Ann is a knitter, so we were able to share a lot about our projects...

La tia de James vino a visitarnos, hace anos que no la veiamos. La pasamos super bien. La tia Ann tambien teje asi que pudimos compartir montones sobre nuestros tejidos...

She made this beautiful hat for Ian. I love it! I hadn't had a chance to make one for him and this one is so pretty and it fits perfectly! Thanks so much Ann!

Le hizo esta gorrita a Ian. Me encanta! Yo no habia tenido tiempo de tejerle una... Le quedo perfecta y los colores me encantan!

She also showed me how to spin yarn... it was fun to learn but I realized afterwards that spinning is not my thing! I think I am going to stick to knitting... lol

Tambien la tia me enseno a hilar lana... Fue interesante aprender pero me di cuenta que eso no es lo mio... Yo me quedo con la tejedera... JA JA 

Fog Delay?

Not for us... What can be better than stay in bed until 8:30 on a cold-foggy day? Get up and do your school in your p-j's while zipping on nice cup of hot cocoa ?

I truly feel sorry for the kids who have to go to school on a day like this... 

Bench Project / la banca que pintamos

This is a bench that I got at Woodland. It is really big and just what I was looking for to put Rachel's stuffed animals in. She has soooo many... 

Esta es la banca que compre para poner los peluches de Rachel. Ella tiene un monton!

Here is the finished product. It took more work that I expected to be honest. First you sand it, then you primer it, then sand it again, then paint it pink two coats, sand some parts that were still rough, and finally apply transfers and stickers and a coat of poly to protect the paint. I love it! and so does Rachel. 

Aqui esta la banca terminada. Primero se lija, se le pasa Primer blanco, luego dos capas de pintura rosada, luego lija, y por ultimo el Poli que es como una capa que sella y proteje la pintura. Ah y claro antes del poli se pegan las calcomanias y unas transferencias. A R y a mi nos encanta como nos quedo!

CDC SAYS MELAMINE IN BABY FORMULA OK?

Just in case there was any doubt that the Food and Drug Adm. was on the industry and the Pharma's side, I am stunned that they had the nerve to say that trace amounts of Melamine in baby formula was OK! How much crap is a tiny baby supposed to overcome? How much toxic substances is an infant expected to asimilate? As if it wasn't bad enough to get Mercury and aluminum injected in your bloodstream on the vaccines, sleeping in matresses loaded with poisons like boric acid, wearing diapers with chemicals and drinking in bottles desthiling BPA plastics... Now the tiny babies are expected to also drink MELAMINE !?!?

Melamine was found in the 3 biggest brands sold in the US: ABBOT LABS maker of SIMILAC, MEAD JOHNSON maker of ENFAMIL, and NESTLE maker of GOOD START. 

This is an outrage! when are we going to wake up and demand that someone puts and end on the special interest of the organizations who's job is supposed to protect our children from all this crap!!! I am so mad!  Sorry I vented here... Thank God I exclusively breast feed my baby or else he would also be drinking all this garbage. 

En caso de que no quedara claro de que la Administracion de Drugas y Alimentos estaba del lado de la industria y las companias farmaceuticas y no del lado del consumidor, como para que no quedara la menor duda, ahora tienen el descaro de decir que esta bien si la formula para bebes contiene MELAMINA un quimico cancerigeno y toxico que ha enfermado de gravedad a miles de bebes en China. Como si no fuera suficiente con que los bebes tengan que beber en chupones que destilan peligrosos quimicos como BPA, como si no fuera suficiente que se les inyectan cantidades peligrosas de metales pesados en las vacunas (como aluminio y mercurio), como si no fuera suficiente dormir en colchones rociados con sustancias venenosas como ACIDO BORICO, como retardante inflamable, ahora tambien para satisfacer los intereses creados, se espera que las pobre criaturas beban formula con MELAMINA !!! que espanto! cuando vamos a despertar y demandar que las organizaciones que se supone que nos defiendan de los niveles toxicos industriales y famaceuticos hagan su trabajo? Despues se asustan de que las tasas de mortalidad infantil aumenten, de que la diabetes infantil, el autismo, el alzaimer y el cancer vayan por los cielos... Que horror! 

La melamina se encontro en los 3 principales fabricantes de formula de los EU: Laboratorios Abbot que hacen SIMILAC, Mead Johnson que hacen Enfamil, y Nestle los que hacen GOOD START. 

Gracias a Dios que tengo suficiente leche para amamantar yo misma a mi bebe o sino el tambien se estaria tragando esta porqueria...

The awesome FISHER PRICE RAINFOREST JUMPEROO

"

I love the Jumperoo. It is the best toy we could have gotten for Ian, he loves jumping as you can see. We had gotten a baby gym and he did not care for it. I took it back and got this instead and he loves it! Mommy loves it too because baby stays entreteined for a long time, giving mommy time to get lots of things done. :-))

Yo amo el Jumperoo, es el mejor juguete que pudimos haber comprado para Ian, a el le encanta y a mi mas porque se queda ahi brincando por un gran rato y se entretiene por un gran rato y me deja hacer cosas. :-)  

If you are planning to buy a BUXTON bag... don't!

If you are planning to buy a Buxton Bag... let me discourage you... when the bag is heavy it causes the stuff in the outer compartment to overflow and your things get out of the bag, the outer zipper in the back is upside down also causing your stuff to fall down if you forget to zip it. The only thing I really loved about this bag is the cell phone pouch

 which is very useful but the other issues make it a bad purchase in my opinion. The material is thin, it does not feel like leather at all, more like a plastic, it is got to be an imitation of leather. Mine got stained with some yellow paint from the Winnie the Pooh window shadow during the summer and to be honest I don't even care because I am getting rid of it anyways. This bag is driving me crazy... I can't believe I paid $40 plus shipping for this!

Yesterday I got this one at Kolhs to replace it, I love it! and unlike the Buxton bag this is genuine leather and only cost $20 on sale!

Baby pictures 7 months

For your delight here is Mr. Ian at 7 months!

Para el deleite de todos ustedes aqui esta Mr. Ian a los 7 meses! 

Happy birthday to me!

A couple weeks ago was my birthday. I turned 40. It was special just because a new decade kind of marks a new stage, doesn't it? We went out to eat to celebrate. As every Friday in "getting a little crowded here" city, all restaurants were packed. I wanted to eat at Olive Garden but the wait was about an hour... "no thanks!". We ended up eating at Mimi's Cafe and Ian cried the whole time we were there. No one was able to order what they wanted, except maybe Rachel. James ended up liking his clam showder and I took must of my pasta home for James to eat later, but the most important thing is that we were together and having my family was all the party I needed to have. James got me flowers and balloons and a special present that I have not received yet. He says it is in the mail... I wonder what it could be...   

Hace un par de semanas fue mi cumpleanos. Fue especial porque cumpli 40. Cada vez que se cambia de decada representa como una nueva etapa, verdad? James me regalo este arreglo de flores y fuimos a comer afuera. Es dificil aqui donde vivo porque los fines de semana todos los restaurantes estan saturados, pero por fin encontramos un lugar y aunque no era lo que queriamos comer e Ian lloro todo el rato, la pasamos bien, estar con mi familia es el mejor regalo que podia tener.

Victorian Knitting bedroom

I am planning on redecorating my bedroom in a victorian theme, so it occurred to me to collect some old prints and frame them to give the bedroom that old victorian feeling. I started searching online for prints related to ... "knitting" of course! I found some great paintings but the reproductions were very expensive. I ended up buying buying 3 from Ebay studios for a very reasonable price. This is the first one I got on the mail yesterday:

The picture is actually more beautiful in person, I will show it here once I frame it. I only paid about $11 plus shipping for this one. Isn't it gorgeous? you can order it in any size you want from this ebay seller: quaintcards

Homeschooling

Wow! time flies by when you are exhausted ! LOL 

I can't believe I haven't post in so long. These had been some really hard days, mainly because I have been putting all of my energy in redesigning Rachel's schedule to catch up with her curriculum, we are so behind... it makes my stomach hurt when I think about it. My whole goal right now is to bring her up to grade level, so we are homeschooling day and night to try to catch up. I love homeschooling but I don't want Rachel to get behind so if we can not bring her up to grade level I might seriously consider putting her in school next year.

Well I am glad Halloween is over, I am not a fan of Halloween, this year James took Rachel to church for the Harvest Festival and I stayed home and turned off all the lights in the house and went to bed with the baby at 7:00 p.m. It worked! no body came to my door... Call me a grouch, but I was exhausted and all I wanted was going to bed. I have rested quite a bit during this weekend and I feel much better now, ready to start the week. 

We hired a awesome person to help tutoring Rachel and I am so thankful to have her, she will be helping me 3 mornings/week, I really need help so I have time to take care of the baby, cook, pick up messes, etc. Otherwise, the house falls apart. Besides, it is nice to be able to work with Rachel without interruptions, one of biggest problems is constantly having to stop the work to attend to the baby, this really disrupts Rachel's already difficult attention span, so been able to sit down and work without interruptions is important.

Here is a picture of Rachel, she was Hannah Montana for Halloween of 

course. I had bought a skunk outfit for Ian but it was too warm to wear it and besides he ended up staying home with mommy having a great nap instead of going out in the rain. :-)