This is what 5 looks like...

Happy Birthday Princess Peanut!

Today, It's Kindergarten....

...tomorrow, it'll be college.

Summer Catch Up...

Wow, I can't believe it's been six weeks since I've posted anything here. Sorry about that. It's been a crazy, busy Summer.

There's been lots of knitting. I can't believe the number of FOs I have just from the last few months.

I took my first ever knitting class at Threadbear in July. It was a lot of fun and I got to meet some nice people. I'm about 1/3 of the way through the lace scarf. Here's the last photo of it. All of the details are on ravelry.

Every year, I knit Peanut a scarf. This year, she got to choose the yarn. It's some sort of Joann Sensations yarn. It's incredibly soft, bulky and fuzzy. Each time she sees me working on it, she'll put it to her cheek and say, "I love it".

With her 5th birthday looming, I know I can't hold off Barbie too much longer. In anticipation, I bought the Nicky Epstein book 75 designs for Barbie or something. I found this pattern online and made it for Peanut's little buddy's birthday this week. It was a huge hit. It seems a lot like the Tempting pattern on the top, so I was thinking if I did it again, I'd add a belt or a ribbon element at the neckline. (The Barbie is vintage. It was a donation from a coworker's childhood Barbie stash...we've been toying with naming her Buffy Van Schnaussen...I don't know why but it seems fitting for some reason).

Since buying my D60 in April, I've taken nearly 5,000 photos. Yeah, that's a lot. I have my first photographer gig this weekend and I'm super excited.

This is Peanut on 4th of July at a friend's farm. The kid loves dirt, that's for sure.

I did some school shopping for her and she did a fashion show. Despite being a size 7, the Hannah Montana shirt was deemed too snug and was gifted to another Hannah fan. But she did express her joy for the outfit here first. (The pose does accentuate the problem areas a bit :) )

We finished our Parent/Tot bowling league. We came in second place and we got a trophy. She felt the need to dress for the occassion. After 12 weeks of bowling, the kid can finally throw the ball down the lane without zigzagging between the bumpers...when she feels like it. I was quite proud. A few frames, she didn't even use the bumpers. I had a career high game of 146 during the season and I'm so glad we did it. We really enjoyed the time spent doing this together and I know we'll do it again next year. All of the family leagues through the year happen on Saturday or Sunday mornings and that doesn't quite work with her visitation schedule.

And this is my baby...my great big girl...1 week out from Kindergarten. I can hardly believe it. I don't quite know where the last 5 years went. Because this is her 5th birthday, she's having a big bash for it and allowed to invite lots of friends. I made the invites and put them together last night. It was such a deja vu moment, as I'd done the same with her 1st Birthday invites as well. I couldn't be more proud of my little Peanut. She's intelligent, insightful, caring, clever, funny and beautiful. The traits I complain about are ones that we value in adults, and I try to keep that in perspective at those tough parenting moments.

Momma's so proud of you my dear Scoot McGoo...just don't grow up too fast on me.

Before the battery dies...

First the finished things...
Pair #2 for the CIC sock challenge

A requested washcloth for AJ. It's garterlac

A Twin-DiP sweater. One down, One to go...

The WIP's
Hemlock ring in the making...

Mystery shawl swatch...it's still a swatch. I'm having a hell of a time with the cast on for this one.

Precious things...

1 Preschool Graduate....

1 set of tiny baby feet...

Published

The condos near our apartment caught fire on Tuesday night. After securing Peanut and Wally for a quick exit (if need be), I grabbed the Nikon and started shooting. I have over 300 shots from the night. I submited my best 20 to the local paper, and they'll be running 3 or 4 of them with the story on Thursday! They're already using one of them for their main web site page.

If I had taken my photography classes sooner in my college career, I would have minored in it. It really feels good to be back at it again. The few photos I've gotten of Peanut that make me stop are enough alone to justify the purchase of the camera.

Where the heck did May go?

Peanut's visiting her dad this weekend it's been a good time to catch up on things I haven't had time for recently. Like updating my blog..


Seems like we've had one activity after another this month. My bowling league ended and I got 3rd most improved woman's average for the league. Not too shabby for my rookie year. Our team joked that we needed to get yellow stripes for our shoes. It was a great time and I'm pretty sure we're going to be doing it again next year. In the meantime, Peanut and I are signed up for a parent/tot league that's starting soon.


We participated in Relay for Life as part of Peanut's school's team. We had a great time! Here's the photo of her before we left. She insisted she couldn't go without the beads in her hair. Less is never more with her.

At home after...a rare shot of Wally-cat. Have I mentioned how much I love the new camera?


Some of us have started getting together at lunch at work on Fridays for a little knitting group. It's been a great deal of fun! One person joined without having ever touched needles. I think she's now building a stash of dishcloth cotton. I've started another pair of socks to send to CIC. Two of my coworkers are also doing socks. It's just been a nice break in the craziness work has been recently.


I've been lucky to have been doing a lot of knitting recently. I'm still working on baby sweaters. Seems like the one will never get finished. Of course it doesn't help that it's my last project to pickup. The BFF socks will not be finished in time for her birthday. I'm working on Aunt Peanut's scarf and dishcloths for her. Oh and I just finished a pirate themed golf club cover. I may be doing a lot more of these in the near future. AND I signed up for the Goddess Knit Mystery Shawl KAL. I think that's what it's called. I bought some KnitPicks lace weight around Christmas that I'm going to bust out for it. I may have also purchased one of those fabulous kits Laura had made up. No confirmation email yet and I see now they're sold out...so we'll see. Those are for me.

Oh and we did adopt a Wii Fit on Wednesday. Holy cow!! It's even more fun than I thought it would be.

32 Years 23 Hours 35 Minutes and counting....

The house is finally quiet. We've had a flurry of activity from the time the alarm clock went off this morning. Peanut spent a good chunk of the day with Grandma. I spent the day attending my dear friend's son's 1st Communion. I've attended Catholic weddings, but this was my first 1st Communion. I always find the Catholic ceremonies beautiful and interesting.

It is my birthday for a few minutes more. It's been a good day. The big (adult) celebration is next weekend. Tonight was spent with family and Peanut. She picked out my tiny birthday cake and we sang "Happy Birthday" with a tea light burning on top. It was the perfect way to end my birth day. I wouldn't have traded those two giggly minutes for the fanciest party.

I mentioned in my last post that I bought myself a D60. Below if one of my very favorit shots that I've taken in the last 10 days. There are a few others I may share later that really made me stop and say, "I took that." I had photography classes in college and I have a Pentax K1000 here somewhere, but it fell to the wayside when adult life took over. I've missed it for years and it's like and old friend has come back into my life.

**I think this photo truly captures Peanut. Dirty fingers, tosseled hair, a Giselle bandaid and a million watt smile**

The best gift I received this year was one I gave myself. I set a goal on January 1st of losing 50 lbs by my 32nd birthday. That's today. While I didn't make 50, I did hit 42 this morning. I've worked hard for it and I am most proud of that this year. I bought a pair of stretch denim capris March 1st. They were very stretched in the dressing room. I bought them anyway. I wore them for the first time this afternoon and they'll soon be too big to wear without being taken in. I was shocked by that! I just tried them on to see how much more I needed to lose before I could wear them comfortably. All the hard work is definitely paying off. My next goal is 70 lbs gone by Labor Day. I think I'll get there. I just need to remember that it needs to be about me for a little while or I won't be around to worry about anyone else.

FOs and BPs

I've tried repeatedly over the last 6 weeks to update the blog. Each time, blogger just wasn't having it. Sorry about that.

Some of the ladies at my office have started a knitting circle. Some of us are working on socks for CIC. I finished mine in record time over the weekend.

I finished a couple of teeny tiny hats. These will potentially go to my boss's new twins. Keep your fingers crossed they'll be too small for them once they're born. Their mom's been on serious bedrest for a month now and they're not due until June.

This the EZ sweater from The Knitting Almanac. So far so good. It's in KnitPicks Cotlin. Love it. Ordered 6 more skeins for the other babies I know coming soon.

And I'm trying to expand my horizons. I'm giving Maze from Sensational Knitted Socks a go. They'll also go to CIC.

Notice anything different about these photos? They're crisp, clear and have great color? Yeah, this is where the BP comes in..Birthday Present. My birthday is in 10 days or so. I've been admiring a certain camera from afar for several months now. I've done my homework and saved the money...and I bought it today. Riza might like her Canon, but I've always been loyal to Nikon. Well, with the exception of the Pentax in college but that doesn't count. A D60 now resides with us. I feel as if it needs a name. These two photos make it worth every penny.

Boxing Wally

Here's a video of Peanut boxing:

And here's the latest addition to our family, Wally-Penelope.

He's a 4 year old stray we rescued. Someone at some point really loved him a lot. He's the most friendly and loving cat I've ever come across. Peanut loves him. I don't know if she loves him because he's her pet or because he's someone she can boss around.

In other news...I'm halfway to my goal to lose 50 lbs by my birthday! I'm about 2 weeks ahead of schedule with my 10 lbs per month goal.

Wii Bowling

Here's the video of Peanut bowling:

Still here...

I've had a heck of a time getting in to post to the blog. I really don't care for the Google aspect of blogger now. It's so much more difficult just to get logged in, it seems.

We're still here and still insanely busy. Peanut's practicing writing her name in anticipation of Kindergarten in the Fall. She attended a Valentine's Daddy/Daughter dance with her dad last week and here's the before & after photos....

I've done a little bit of knitting recently. I'm still slugging away on Peanut's Haiku sweater. It's like the ever growing bumpy, hot pink blob. Last weekend, I whipped up Penny for a friend who got a Maltese puppy for Valentine's day. It's so freakin' cute! I have yet to get a photo of it, but will soon.

I joined Weight Watchers at work 3 weeks ago. This fits in very well with my motto for 2008, Be healthier. I'm down 22 lbs for the year. I can attribute some of the success to the Wii I recently stood in line for at Toys R Us. I gotta say, that was quite the study in human nature right there. Whether I'd gottent he Wii or not, it was totally worth watching people forget they are adults and that a gaming system is not the most important thing in the world. "Grace & Dignity" were not words most of them were familiar with. My favorite was a dad that showed up at 10:10 that morning to find a line up of people with the vouchers in the store. He then took it upon himself to scream at the very cordial Toys R Us employee about how unfair it was that they were out of them already. All of this was done in front of his 9 year old son. Way to go dude, that teaches your child an excellent lesson right there. Peanut was staying with my Aunt & Uncle for the night or I wouldn't have bothered to go at all. But anyway, we are enjoying nightly games of boxing and bowling. Main point here that we're getting off the couch and doing something rather than watching tv. She's actually getting pretty good at the bowling. I have video that I will try to post over the weekend. I love the fact that I was able to download the original Super Mario Brothers for $5. Ah, some things you never forget.

Dancing Queen

No idea where she gets the dance moves from, but she definitely makes it work. The outfit was a Christmas gift and right now, a bride is just as good as a Princess in Peanut's book.

Distracting You With Cuteness

I'm plugging along on holiday gifts. I'm feeling really good about where I am. Peanut's teachers are each getting a pair of Fetching gloves. Her lone male teacher may receive a hat or a more manly pair of fingerless gloves. Jury's still out on that one. Peanut has made many requests that her baby receive some sort of knit clothing soon as well. Well, "requests" wouldn't exactly describe how she's asking...demands is more like it. Each time she sees me knitting, she'll stop me to ask if that's for her or her baby? Because in her mind, there are only these two options.

We put our cool new tree up. She loved it. I let her put on whatever she wanted and did not move anything. We have large gaping holes and other branches that hold five ornaments each. She loves it and it's her tree, too.

My friend, Jennifer was given a grocery bag full of dress up stuff. She passed it along to Peanut. Here she is in her Princess Costume glory complete with accessories.

This is her "cha cha" outfit. That's a flapper dress with hat..and a pink holster and bunched up skirt to compliment the ensemble.

We visited Santa at her school...

There were no tears...no deep frowns...I think we've turned the corner on our Santa fears. I caught her hugging his leg as he was trying to leave. Her liking him and understanding his role in our Christmas celebration means that he's also become a major bargaining tool. The look on her face was priceless when I let it slip I had his phone number and could call him if he needed an update on whether she's been naughty or nice.

Let's say she had a "naughty" day on Wednesday when she and her buddy TP'd the girls bathroom at school. I know those huge rolls of TP are tempting...and it's something I would have loved to have done at 4...it was hard not to smile when her teacher told me.

Lions and Tigers and Bears...Oh my!

Peanut attended her first play on Saturday. We went to see the Howell Community theater's production of The Wizard of Oz. It was wonderful! Peanut had a lot of questions as the stage play does stray from the movie a bit and she had a hard time wrapping her head around the fact that we were in the same room as Glenda and The Wicked Witch of the West. She insisted on wearing her "Good Witch" dress instead of her kind-of-looks-like-Dorothy sundress. I'm glad she did. There was a sea of Dorothys and just one Glenda. And from the number of pairs we saw on Saturday, Target must have a hard time keeping red sparkly shoes in stock. We watched Return to Oz once we got home. That's 2 hours of my life I'll never have back. Horrible movie. I kept trying to persuade Peanut to abandon it and watch something else, but she stuck it out until the end. I made the mistake of putting it on and then going to put laundry away...when I cam back, Dorothy was on a table hooked up and ready to receive electric shock therapy. Evidently, her stories of Oz weren't all that well received by Aunt Em and Uncle Henry when she came back. I asked Peanut what was going on and she said she wasn't quite sure and insisted on watching the movie. I sat down with her to oversee the rest of it. Dorothy lucks out because a storm comes in before they can fire up the equipment and she escapes to Oz with a chicken....and that's all I'll say about that. Don't waste your time, though.

We visited the Knitting Den on Saturday to take advantage of their 25% off sale. I've received 3 emails and a phone call about this sale...so we went. I still hate the store. No one ever greets you and it's almost like they act like it's a privilege they let you in to buy things. I hate the way it's layed out and it's insanely impossible to get to everything if there are people sitting around the table in the middle of the store. I'm thinking that's going to be my last visit there. There are too many other good shops within 20 mins of the house that I want to spend my money at.

I finished the crazy pink eyelash scarf for Peanut. Photos coming soon. I'm making my way across the back of Haiku for her...I can't wait to see how this turns out.

Pouty Princess, FOs and 7 Things

Here's the pouty princess from Halloween. That's a genuine Sleeping Beauty dress, crown & wand from the Disney store. The crown she got for her birthday. The wand was a Chicago souvenir and Aunt Peanut, who spoils her rotten, got her the dress. Similar to The Blue Dress from last year, the kid would wear it 24/7 if I let her. This was the first year she "got" trick or treating. I've never seen the kid move so fast or run for so long in her entire life. It was pretty comical and she went the distance going the whole 2 hours without a complaint.

It's a little blurry, but it's my favorite picture of the night. This was taken just as we were wrapping up for the night. The kid wound up with an insane amount of candy. About 1/3 of it wound up at my office. We still have 2 gallon size ziplocs full at home. She's limited to 1 piece a day. We're set for a while.

I finished up some projects..

I finished a baby sweater for a coworker. It's Little Lamb sweater from Precious Layettes to Knit. It's done in red LB Cotton-Ease with lady bug buttons. It was very well received.

The sweater wasn't finished in time for her work shower, so she got these little guys then. They're Baby Eyelet socks made out of left over tofutsies. I hate the yarn. Enough that I don't care if I misspell it or not. It splits and bunches and I'll never, ever buy it again.

Ages ago, Amby tagged me with a meme. I've never been tagged before and quickly did the 7 things list. And then it sat in my My Documents until today. Sorry, Amby. Thanks for tagging me!

So, here are the rules.

1. Link to your tagger and post rules

2. Share 7 facts about yourself, some random and some weird

3. Tag 7 people at the end of post and list their names

4. Let them know they were tagged by a comment on their blog

1. I am the youngest, oldest, middle and only child for my family. Between my mom & dad, I'm the only. For my mom, I'm the oldest. For my dad, I'm the youngest biologically but when you factor in my steps, I'm in the middle. I believe I have traits from all of the birth orders because of this.

2. When playing cards, I cannot touch my cards until the final card has been dealt or flipped over, depending on the game. If I do, then it completely ruins the hand for me.

3. While I have an extensive ice cube tray collection, I tend to drink my beverages without ice and don't mind them warm or room temperature. (IKEA has some really great silicone ones with different shapes)

4. I hate Seinfeld. Hate it with a passion. The music from the show instantly puts me in a bad mood. One of my roommates in college was obsessed with it and now I work with guys that watch it nightly and then enjoy discussing it at length every morning.

5. I went to college to be a radio producer or an accountant. CMU had a great hands on program for radio at the time and they had a nationally accredited Accounting program as well. I took 2 BCA classes before my prof distributed typical salary ranges for the field...I switched to business. After taking an accounting class, I knew that was not my calling and went with a General business Major. One of my fraternity (AKPsi) advisers bluntly told me to pick something or quit school. Management Information Systems was the major with the shortest list of required classes, so I went with that. So, I have a BSBA with an MIS major.

6. I am Irish on both sides, so that's what I claim to be. My mother's maiden name and my maiden name are very, very common names in Ireland.

7. Knicknames that I've had are: Janetteski, MammaJ, Mudslide, Jaynet, J, JoanJett

As for the tagging part...well, if 7 of you still read this after my sporadic postings the last year or so, please consider yourself tagged.

And I shall name her Sparky...

My father and step-mother were avid bowlers. My dad worked afternoons and bowled on at least 2 leagues a week. Sunday nights with them were usually spent at an alley somewhere begging for quarters to play the video games. Bowling on a league seemed like such a cool, adult thing to do. The idea of joining a mixed league was tossed around in the last few years, but unforeseen circumstances never made it a reality...until this year.

Some friends and I formed a team and blindly joined a league that bowls every other weekend. We are not good, but we have a fabulous time! That's the whole point. To get out, meet new people and have a good time.

I've never had my own bowling ball. It always seemed so extravagant considering I rarely bowled and I wasn't any good. With joining the league, it's obvious I will not get any better using a house ball. I've been struggling with whether or not to buy one. Again, it seems like such a frivolous thing. I got shoes on sale a couple of years ago. They made sense because you pay $3.50 each time to rent them. Paying $9.99 for the pair I have means that they've already paid for themselves and then some.

On Tuesday, Peanut had to visit the pediatrician. I was a little freaked out about the why (and finding out later, justifiably so). We stopped to get gas on the way home and when I put the pump back into the holster, I noticed someone had dropped their credit card. It was raining...and to take it into the station, I'd have to pull Peanut out of the car and it'd be a pain. But then I thought, if that was my credit card I'd want someone to turn it in for me...so I did just that. When we got home, I found a check in the mail from our previous cable company telling me I had overpaid them. Huh? How did that happen? The amount of the check was just enough to cover a new ball.....

So I picked out Sparky. She'll come home with us on Thursday. I'll test her out on Friday. On Saturday, she'll be tweaked (if needed) and then used for league night. This photo really doesn't do her justice. She seems to twinkle like the night sky. Hopefully she can help my 93 average.

There has been a lot of knitting and photos of it, but they're trapped in the camera. I finished a pair of baby eyelet socks that were gifted to a coworker. I'm also working on a red baby sweater. I finished the first of the BFF socks and I'm nearing the end of the toe increases on the second. For some reason, lace seems to keep coming up. I'm wondering if I might be ready for a real like project soon. Maybe that'll be a 2008 thing. I would still like to get a little cardigan knit up for Peanut. I also picked up a few skeins of an awful fun fur at the Dollar Store to make into a princess worthy scarf for her.

We hit Zoo Boo last weekend....it was fun, but not really worth the money. If you have little kids that would tire easily from traditional trick or treating, then it's definitely worth it. A gaggle of kids aged 3 - 6 made quick work of the 13 stops and stingy candy amounts. I'm glad we did it, but I don't know that we'll do it again.

Oh! And I've been on Ravelry for a while now...I'm jbknits over there too. Might as well stay consistent, right?

This is what 4 looks like...

Peanut and The Monkees share the same birthday. I always forget to ask what time they were born.

The celebration of 4 started with a party at Peanut's dad's house and they visited Build A Bear. She came home with a pretty new pink bear. It has been given the honor of residing in her bed without her shoes.

The party continued when she got home with the party with my immediate family. I think she was happy with the Princess cake by way of Costco.

Tuesday, was her actual birthday. She took cupcakes & frosting to school to have a snack that they could decorate first. I picked her up early to go have dinner at Big Boy with Gram and Aunt Peanut. Big Boy is her new favorite restaurant for some reason. She chose to have hotcakes with apples & whipped cream for dinner. It was her birthday and she was allowed to choose to have whatever she wanted. That's the point of birthday dinners, right? That was followed up with a giant chocolate ice cream and carmel sauce sundae. Before she slipped into a sugar coma, we headed to Chuck E Cheese for a couple of hours.

40 hrs later, we were on a train headed for Chicago. This was a trip I'd been planning for seven months with one of my best friends from CMU. Her little guy turned 4 on 9/30, so it was a birthday present to both of them. We headed to Shedd Aquarium on Friday. She was most excited about the dolphins and beluga whales. She fell asleep on the city bus on the way back to the hotel and I had a really hard time waking her. I'd say she definitely enjoyed the aquarium.

On Saturday, we visited the Children's Museum on Navy Pier. What an awesome place! We had the best time there. We spent the afternoon on Navy Pier and finished up the day on the Magnificent Mile. I thought she would faint from the Princess display at the Disney store. Here she is modeling her new jammies and dolls from the day.

Peanut's other big birthday gift was a Leapster. The kid loves this thing more than I could have imagined. She's pretty good about only playing it for 30 mins or so at a time.

The last year has been tough on us both and I think we've weathered it well. She's recently snapped out of a phase where I affectionately referred to her as "The Devil". I was worried it was never going to end, but it did and I am so thankful for the sweet little girl that has emerged. While I'm sad that she's growing up so quick, I'm excited for the little person she's becoming. I can't wait to see what other adventures are in store for us, but I'm thrilled to have her to share them with.