Spring!

Spring is coming. You can feel a buzz in the air that wasn't there just a week ago, everyone is moving. We have enjoyed a full week (that's right WEEK!) of sunny nearly cloudless weather. Apparently this is unusual but even without all the nice weather you can tell that Spring is in the air.

We went to the market in Bury St. Edmunds today, which was quite fun to do. I haven't been to a market in ages and winter time markets just didn't stir any ambition to get out of the nice warm house. It was a fun time for the most part, Sophia still wanted to "go to the base" but she tolerated mom wandering in circles looking at all the good deals....the markets bring out the penny pincher in me!
We did quite nicely I think, everything in the picture was less than £20. I was on a real produce kick and couldn't resist all the "£1 bowls."

Sophia still got to go to base today as well...mom couldn't resist going to the garden center on a nice warm day. I decided to start a container garden, since we rent and I am not allowed to tear up the yard. Which is wise of our landlord because if I had things my way the whole yard would be one big garden. Until I have that option this will do nicely. For the moment all I could fit in the car was supplies for a small herb garden, some strawberries and tomatoes. I am still working on it and will be adding to and moving plants around to get the best grouping. I am quite pleased with it, hopefully it survives!

Hope everyone is feeling Spring like we are!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I am not Irish, at least not in any real sense, perhaps one of my many English ancestors had some Irish blood in them but that was so far back that it doesn't even count. However I can identify with Irish culture a great deal. I defiantly plan to make it there while we are still overseas.

So in the spirit of St. Patrick's Day I knitted a shamrock! I made it for my daughter to wear to school. She loves pink, and red, and sometimes brown if it has pink in it....but she doesn't have a stitch of green clothing. I found this unacceptable and so I found this pattern. She was quite happy with her "leaf."

Hope everyone has a fun St. Paddy's Day!

Valentine's Day Cookies

I don't get terribly excited about Valentine's Day but this year my mom sent me the coolest sprinkles in the world so I had to try them!
Along with some very cute heart cookie cutters.

I just made a sugar cookie dough and added a bunch of cocoa power, 2/3 of a cup of cocoa power...they are very chocolaty! Sophia could hardly wait until it was rolled out to start cutting out the hearts. She enjoyed that more than she has enjoyed the actual cookies!

I have a whole bag of just the plain chocolate cookies, I think they are better without frosting, but I don't really like frosting.


But without frosting how do you get to try out pretty sprinkles?!

Happy Valentine's Day!

First Day of School (sort of)

This week was Sophia's first week of school. We have been waiting and working for 6 months for her to get into school so this was a big week. She has surprised me, and the teachers, with how well she has done. She still needs a lot of individual instruction and guidance but once she gets the routine down I am sure she will need less. We are lucky that her teacher has worked with Autistic kids before and is familiar and understanding with all of her quirks. Ms. W. emailed me later on the first day to tell me how well she was doing and that she had even had a nap! (she hasn't taken a nap in almost 3 years) It's nice to have contact with the teacher if I need to, Sophia doesn't understand what I am asking when I ask her about her day so I don't get a lot of information from her....so it is great to have some communication.

We have her IEP (Individual Education Plan) meeting on Tuesday so that should be another step toward getting her caught up a little bit with reguards to her social skills and coping skills. This has been a long time coming but I am quite glad that she is finally getting some help, and I am very hopeful that one day she will be able to cope and learn new things all on her own.

Our "First Day" picture. This was actually not her first day, it was supposed to be but there was a mix up with the taxi service and they never showed up on Monday morning. Fortunately they got it worked out quickly and she went to school on Tuesday. The picture was just too cute so I am still going to consider it as her "First Day" photo!

This is another one and you can see the new mittens that Momma made for her 2 days before she had to be to school. They turned out okay it was a quick project since she needed mittens rather than gloves for school. Once she gets better at putting on gloves by herself she may not need the mittens but I wanted one less thing for her (and me!) to worry about on her first day!

I will be posting more along the line of projects I think now that I only have to keep track of one kid during the day now. I hardly know what to do with myself!

Finally some proof that I have been busy with knitting projects!


This hat is for Katie...which Sophia so graciously volunteered to model! I may have to make one for her now since she really seems to like it.


A collection of the knits I have been putting off and starting periodically since December. I am down to just one sock, and one hat left to finish. My goal is to get these all done by Feb. and sent out. However my tendency to start new projects before my old ones are finished makes some projects go slower than planned!

Pumpkin Soup and the Great Pantry Purge of 2009!

What's cheap, delicious, and clears out my pantry? Pumpkin Soup!

We have been eating very frugally the last few months and that means a lot of soups! There isn't a lot in the way of fresh produce available this time of year so canned goods get used quite a bit. In this case I used one of the many cans of pumpkin I had picked up for Thanksgiving and never turned to pie.


To be honest I like the soup better anyways!
No recipe, just winging it with what I had on hand, but I have a list of ingredients...

1/2 an onion
garlic
2 grated carrots
dried thyme
large can on pumpkin
1 can evaporated milk
4 cups of chicken stock (made from chicken base, as I have no room to store the real thing)
1 cup of light cream
pepper
salt
dash of cayenne

Sure was a nice break from tuna melts!

Update, plans and aspirations

It's been awhile since I have posted. I want to say that I have accomplished a lot in my absence from blogging but alas...it's not the case. We are just now peaking out from the chaos/clutter of Christmas and things are slowly getting back to business as usual.

I have a million plans for the new year. One of which is to try out my sewing machine that I got for Christmas! I managed to get it out of the box finally and have discovered that we need a transformer to run it. Since we are getting closer to getting a house on base (with dual voltage) I think it may stay in it's case until we get moved. However there are a lot of sewing related things to do besides sewing, like cutting squares for a blanket for the boy. I promise updates!



Still knitting as usual. I am almost done with my late Christmas presents for the ladies in my family. Two pairs of socks finished, two more pairs are halfway done, and one hat is nearing completion. Just waiting on some yarn for another hat and inspiration for 2 more hats. Just hope they get them all before Spring!

I am also writing a book. It's quite possible that no one will read it or that I won't get enough written or written well enough. However I have wanted to write a book for awhile...though the subject matter has always varied. The subject for this book involves things that may life is affected by daily. Raising a daughter who is on the Autistic Spectrum, living in harmony with nature, and obtaining true happiness. A lot for one book but I hope it will come together as I envision it. Mostly I just want to see if I can do it, there is no point in someday "hoping" to write a book someday, I just need to do it and see what happens.

We are going to be busy this month I predict, Sophia will be going to school the end of Jan., we will be preparing to move in the near future, and I have a million and one projects planned for myself. Also LOST is coming to television this month in the UK!! It will be a busy month.

I hope to post more often, God knows I try, I just don't know what will happen. So many possibilities and no guarantees!