Friday, December 31, 2010

Happy New Year's Eve



From our house to yours, Happy New Year's Eve! Pitty Pat and I plan on taking it easy and enjoying this warm weather we are having! See you next year!
:) JKP

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Keeping Busy!

Hey Y'all!

I hope you are enjoying the last few days of 2010! Pitty Pat and I have been keeping busy during my time off. We have caught up on some movie watching, some sleep, laundry, online gossip and our growing DVR queue. I have started working on a couple of knitting projects (gasp!) but I frogged them yesterday. My tension is a bit off and I wasn't happy with the result I was getting.

One thing that I have been meaning to do for months is to make a "business" card for things that I knit and give as gifts or for my custom orders . I have business cards for my fledgling Etsy business (not quite off of the ground yet) but I needed something to attach to the hats and sweaters that I give for baby shower presents or sell. I ordered my last business cards from Vistaprint and have been very happy with them. So armed with a coupon and free shipping... I made up some cards for just me. I was able to order two sets of cards! One set was for 250 for free and the next set was just 500 for $10. Needless to say, I won't run out of cards anytime soon! The cards that I paid for have a logo of owls. Ever since I knitted up a few "HOOOOT Hats" this fall, I have had this thing about owls! So I present you with card number 1! Notice, I have blanked out my cell phone number! It's not that I don't love y'all... but I don't want any collect calls from Nigeria!


Here's card number 2! This was the free set so the template options were limited. But I like these too!



I also just got an email from Vistaprint letting me know that my cards are going to be shipping early! I will have them by Monday. This is great because I have to mail out a custom order next week, so I can attach my new cards!

So that is what Pitty Pat and I have been up to. I am off to run a few quick errands, then back to the sleeping, movie watching, DVR catching up and maybe knitting portion of my break!
Tootles!
:) JKP

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Mama's Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowl Girls..

Hey Y'all!

Well, South Carolina survived Snowballgeddon 2010. We only saw light flurries here in Myrtle Beach, but one little Pomeranian sure enjoyed the show!




Paddington, the SNOW DOG!

We have spent the past few days taking it easy and hiding from the cold. I ventured out yesterday to do a few errands and then I came right back home. Brrrr....!
Only in South Carolina can you start the week with snow and end it with 70 degree temps!

Right before Christmas, I took some wee steps with my knitting again. I still can't knit sitting up, it makes me dizzy. But, laying down and using a thick yarn seems to help. I came across this pattern for The Paddington Neck Warmer on Ravelry and just knew I had to knit it! One, because hello.. the name Paddington! And 2, because it is cute. I had some left over Moda Dea Tweedle Dee in Blue Heather left in my stash, so slowly knitting along I went. This turned into a Christmas present for my Mom from my Paddington.. and SHE LOVED it! I am a big fan of cowls. They are not as long as scarves and they really keep your neck warm. Also, they knit up fast and usually are knit up with really thick yarn!
Anyhoo, that's what we have been up to around these parts. Hopefully it will be a little warmer tomorrow and Pitty Pat and I can enjoy another long walk like we did today. :) Both of us haven't wanted to stray too far from the fireplace these days!
Tootles!
:) JKP

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Snowballmageddon- Part Deux

Merry Christmas Y'all!!!

Well, unless you have been UNDER your Christmas tree.. you may have heard about a winter storm brewing in our parts. Whoo, hoo! I have been hooked on the Weather Channel , Intellicast and Weather.gov for the past 24 hours. Lordy. I was even receiving Twitter updates in Mass this morning!

It all comes down to timing, so we are not sure who is getting what and how much... but we are under a Winter Weather Warning. This is the latest from the Weather Channel.



They say that tomorrow will be the worst of it. Stay tuned. Y'all know me, Pitty Pat and I have the digital camera all ready to roll!!!!

I hope all of you have had a Merry Christmas!

:) JKP

Monday, December 20, 2010

Feeling Crafty My Friend?

Hey Y'all!

Well, as you can tell I am on vacation... because I can blog! Here is a very cute idea that popped up on my Twitter feed yesterday. If you are into making your own ornaments, this is just precious! I wish I would have found this BEFORE school got out because I have all of the supplies needed to make this in my classroom! I am sure this would have been an interesting hit at the Thomy Ornament Exchange on Christmas Eve!

To find the instructions to make this cute little Winter Wonderland, visit Disney Family Fun! The materials are pretty basic and this will only take an hour or two to make.

Speaking of the Thomy Ornament Exchange, I have to brave the cold today to go out and find my ornament. I have some ideas... and if Kohl's has any ornaments left, I may be in business! I have a few other errands to run then it is home to hang with Pitty Pat. At our family get together on Saturday, my Mom threw some very nice yarn at me and asked me to try knitting something up for my Grandmother for Christmas. We will see how it goes today after a long winter's nap! I'll try and post some progress tomorrow! I can only knit laying down... so let's hope that has improved!

:) JKP

Sunday, December 19, 2010

AHHHH... Did Someone Say Christmas Break?

Hey Y'all,

Well. I made it to Christmas break! Even I had doubts that this was going to happen! This past week I have been so exhausted that my bedtime has literally been at 8 p.m. It has also been REALLY cold around here, so that didn't help things much either!To help my students get through the week AND to make things fun, I did several crafty things with my students to help all of us get into the Christmas spirit! I thought I would share a few here, just in case you have little ones that you need to entertain until Christmas! Many of you know that my class mascot is a penguin.. so most of our crafts had a penguin theme!

We started off last Monday by making Gingerbread Penguins.. no bake of course! To make these gingerbread ornaments, you need 1/2 cup of applesauce. 1/2 cup of cinnamon and 2 tablespoons of glue. Mix these ingredients well and then roll the dough out until it is about 1/2 inch thick. We used a penguin cookie cutter (good heavens.. talk about hard to find!) and then we used a pencil to poke a hole in the top of each penguin's head for ribbon to hang the ornament. These ornaments do not require baking, they just need about 2-3 days to dry. They smell divine and it's a fun project for kids! The above recipe makes 6 ornaments, you can double the recipe to make more.

Another project that I added to my Christmas Palooza celebration this year was candy making. I called this "Penguin Candy Making" because I lucked out at AC Moore this year and actually found penguin chocolate molds. I think out of all of the crafts we did, my kids really enjoyed this one because we got to do a little "cooking!"
All you need to do this craft is meltable chocolates, a microwave safe bowl (I just used my glass measuring cup), molds of your choice, a spoon, a microwave and a few squeeze bottles. This helps if you are working with kids!






All you need to do is melt the chocolate for 30 seconds and stir. Keep heating for 30 seconds and stirring until all of the chips are melted. Then pour into a squeeze bottle and squeeze some chocolate into each mold! It is so easy! One bag of chocolate melt chips makes about 68 pieces of candy! I used chocolate and vanilla just for variety. The last step you want to take is to drop the molds lightly on the counter several times to get out any air bubbles and to make the molds even. Then place the molds in the fridge for 15 minutes. The take the molds out, and twist the mold slightly, and they will pop out. It is so easy and fun for kids!









And, the finished product.....


I made a few test "batches" at home. That way, my students would have some penguins left over to take home in their goodie bags at the end of the week.

So that is what I have been up too! These past two days of vacation have been filled with sleeping, laundry, hanging with Pitty Pat and finally, our family Christmas luncheon yesterday in Lake City. We always meet the Saturday before Christmas to see everyone, since we are so spread apart now! I am going to leave you with this pic of me, my Mom, Aunt Gwen and Great Aunt Alice. I inherited all of my knitting talent from my Aunt Alice.



I am off to watch some cheesy Christmas movies on TV and take it easy with Pitty Pat. See y'all tomorrow!
:) JKP

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Merry Elves!

Hey Y'all!

Well, if you are on the Christmas Card list, there is no doubt that you have received this little beauty in your mailbox by now!

This past weekend was my Girls Weekend Christmas Palooza Winterfest 2010 with my girls from Lexington. Our main objectives were to shop, of course, AND take the 2010 Christmas Card picture! Toni and Marie had the bright idea that both Pitty Pat and I pose in PJ's. I think that this year's card is a classic! Pitty Pat on the other hand, was NOT amused!

I have been really busy since my last post! I got the house all decorated and cleaned (with Mom's help) so the girls could come last weekend. I have been feeling ok, just really tired. We have also been having this brutally cold weather (ok, brutal for the south) and that has really taken a toll on me as well. I am still recovering from the last bout of vertigo, but as long as I drink my fluids and get plenty of rest I seem to do ok. Yesterday I went to Charleston to meet with an Neuro-opthamologist. She checked out my eyes and gave me some good news, what ever this is, it is not a pseudotumor. She said my vision looks good and that all I need are some "cutesy" reading glasses, which I already have! I am being referred to the head of ENT at MUSC for some vestibular testing. They seem to think that this vertigo may be Meniere's Disease. I have had this diagnosis thrown at me before, but now my symptoms really seem to be more Meniere's. My vertigo is so disabling and disruptive to my life that they are considered "drop" spells. Where I literally can't function until the episode is over. My episodes last about 2 or 3 days and then it takes weeks for my equilibrium to come back. All I know is, I am ready for this to STOP! I still can't knit very much, looking down seems to really make me dizzy.

Since I really can't do a lot of exercising right now, my best friend Marie told me about this awesome thing she is doing with her school in Lexington! They are all wearing pedometers and you have to walk your 10,000 steps a day. Well, this I can do! So during our Saturday outing, I bought myself a pedometer. Well, on Saturday the girls and I logged over 16,000 steps! During a regular school day, with out counting walks with Pitty Pat, I log over 11,000 steps! If you vist this website, America on the Move, you can log your daily steps and choose a trail to walk! So far I have walked 63,161 steps since Saturday which is equal to 31 miles! I have chosen to walk the Pacific Crest Trail, because it goes all the way up the west coast. Today, my stop was the San Andreas Fault. I can't wait until I reach Lake Tahoe!

Well, that's about it for now. I am hoping that it warms up over the next few days. Thank goodness for my electric fireplace, it has really come in handy on these chilly willy nights!
:) JKP