Wintermaggedon-2014 Edition

Hey Y’ all!
Wow. We are experiencing the craziest winter here at the beach! When I last posted, we were on the verge of a four day snow/ice/slush event. Yes. Four days. We missed four days of school! Here is a pic of our backyard….


Pitty Pat was not thrilled with all of the frozen precipitation. Luckily our portion of the beach melted quickly, but other parts of our county were not that lucky. It warmed up by Groundhog day and Pitty Pat and I took a trip to the beach just to show Mr. Groundhog what we thought of his predictions!


But late last week, I started tracking a storm and knew the news was not going to be good for us. Today we got hit with a HUGE ice storm. So far I have lost 3 trees in my back yard and one is very close to taking out my fence. The temps have warmed up to 32 degrees, but with melting trees are continuing to lose limbs.



They just announced that we won’t have school tomorrow either. Oh well. I will enjoy being home with Pitty Pat and working on my new hobby…. Loom  knitting!

Several years ago, when loom knitting was just getting started, I bought a set of looms and never used them. With losing Granddaddy, I just haven’t been able to pick up my knitting needles and concentrate. So the other night I went upstairs and picked up the smallest loom in the pack. Within 30 minutes I had made a preemie hat! I have so enjoyed making them and usually make at least one a day! If you follow me on instagram you have seen my progress. For now it is a great activity to do, especially while watching tv. It doesn’t require a lot of concentration, but you still get the satisfaction of making something everyday! And the hats are just precious!

I have found some great websites with some easy patterns. I plan on trying a cowl tonight. If you see a loom, pick it up… it is a great activity! Here is a video that helped me get started with making a preemie hat. Just grab some bulky yarn and a loom and go!



Alright, I am off to enjoy my night. Keep your fingers crossed that we keep our power!
Tootles!
JKP

Heavy Heart

Hey Y’all,

If you follow me on facebook, twitter or instagram, you know by now that last week my precious Granddaddy Abe passed away on Monday.

This past week has been very surreal. I took last week off from school and went back to work yesterday. I am having good days and bad days, but mostly I am still in a fog getting used to this change in my little world.

Today, believe it or not, we have a snow day! We have an impending winter weather event that is about to hit the SC coast very hard. I think Granddaddy knew that I needed a few days to stay in my pj’s, drink coffee, and snuggle with the Pitty Padster. I haven’t been able to pick up my knitting needles since I lost Granddaddy. I am hoping that over the next few days of being home, I can get my crafty rhythm back again. My heart is just kind of heavy right now.

I am currently trying to charge every electronic device I own just in case the power goes out. We are expecting almost an inch of ice and snow on top of that. I have my heat running on 75 just to get the house really warm in case we lose power once everything starts this afternoon. I have my ipod, ipad, kindle, laptop and phone full of books, knitting podcasts and music to keep us entertained. I also plan on catching up on some much needed sleep!

Every time I let Pitty Pat out this morning he keeps sniffing the air and pawing the ground. Yup. A winter event is coming!

Hopefully I will hop back on here with a weather update soon.

Tootles!

JKP

Currently, A Movie Review and What I Have Been Up To!

Hey Y’all!


Well, school is finally over for the 2012-2013 school year. I had to go and work last Friday for a few hours, but then I was FREE. I took a few days to just read, relax and chill. Today I started my first of three graduate classes. And. Gulp. This summer is going to be busy.


Today I took a time out, after I did all of this week’s class reading, of course! I went to see the movie Now You See Me… it was very good and kept me guessing all the way through. If you are one of those folks that can see what is going to happen a mile away, this movie will be very interesting to you. It as very well done and very enjoyable. Go see it!


I have been very busy with the end of school and getting several knitting orders done. I don’t know if it is the weather or me finally coming off of the prednisone, but the joints in my hands have been killing me . So after packing up my room, I really haven’t felt like knitting. I have been doing a lot of reading! My library finally got with this century and decided to do an e book checkout. You can checkout two books at a time and keep them on your device (nook, Kindle, ipad, etc.) for 10 days. I have probably read about 8 books in the past two weeks. It is so great! And, the books are new ones, not ancient ones. I have updated my sidebar with “Reads from the Beach Chair” so you can see what I am reading!

Just in case you watch the weather as much as I do.. you saw that we had this little event last Friday….We had a visit from Tropical Storm Andrea.





We had mainly rain and little or no damage. I just hope that this doesn’t set the trend for the rest of the storms this year!

I have also been busy making pies! I had a baby shower to attend on Saturday and my Black Bottom Strawberry Pie was requested. The strawberries were so sweet. It was a darn good pie if I say so myself! I made this one on the fly… I didn’t use my own pie crust. But even with a graham cracker crust, it was yummy!




I have also not lost my “thrifting” ways! Since I am taking 3 graduate classes this summer, I really needed to set up a place to work. I had my laptop on my baker’s rack in my dining room, but really, it was not a comfortable place to work. I went into Goodwill last week and stumbled upon a desk that is just perfect. It is light and on wheels, so it is easy for me to maneuver. So, the baker’s rack went upstairs and I now have a great space to work. Here is the desk before I moved it in the house. Excuse the messy garage. That is on the “To Do” list this summer!


It has a place for everything and a place for my printer on the bottom. So for $10 I had a mini downstairs office makeover! I am sitting here right now updating the blog on the new desk! I’ll try and get a better picture of it tomorrow.

And, last but not least, here is this month’s Currently from Farley. On the bottom you had to writ three vacation necessities… Mine are a great book, a beach and of course, it would not be a vacation unless I could bring Pitty Pat. Ahh… no vacation for me this year. Just class work! Here’s hoping we can fit in a few roadtrips!

Well, let me run.. Pitty Pat needs his last nightly walk and we are in between storms at the moment.
Tootles!
JKP

Storm Fest 2012!

Hey Y'all!

I can tell I am on summer break! Not only has the African Sleeping Sickness hit me (where I want to sleep ALL the time to catch up on all of the missed sleep during school) but, I am also forgetting what day of the week it is! I have had to set two alarms on my phone so I will remember to go to my graduate class on Monday! :)

Today I went to something fun! All of the local TV stations, along with the National Weather Service and South Carolina Emergency Management Division hosted a Storm Fest! You know me, I HAD to attend! I am very glad I did. I picked up several things for my classroom and personal weather use. :) I even scored a free t-shirt from one of our local TV stations.

Here's my SWAG.....

I also picked up a cute craft idea to help my kiddies remember the water cycle... a water cycle bracelet! I have to admit, I haven't taken mine off yet! :) It starts with a green bead to remind the children of the grass and plants. The next bead is yellow for the sun. The white bead is for the clouds. The blue bead is for the water in the lakes, ponds and oceans. The last bead is clear to help the children remember the concept of evaporation and condensation! So cute!

I came home from Storm Fest and took a three hour nap! Then I proceeded to clean my house and catch up on laundry. I have taken a peek at my syllabus for my class that starts next week, and I have SEVEN projects due. Good grief. So I figured I better get caught up on house work and laundry!

Tomorrow I plan on going to church and then, where else.... THE BEACH!
I have found a wonderful "new to me author" Karen White and I just can't put down her books. I love her books because they all take place on the coast of South Carolina. Check her out, you will really enjoy her books! I started with On Folly Beach and now I am on to The Beach Trees. She also has a set of books that are mysteries and take place in Charleston.

Alrighty. I have one more load to go into the dryer... and then I am calling it a night!!!!
Tootles!
:) JKP