New Family Member? Maybe!!

Last night while Chris was on the phone with his mom, a new visitor appeared. This young little thing.




We aren't sure if she's staying so we haven't named her. She's currently laying next to me on the sofa, for once she's still! She's eating fine, and only had 1 accident. I just didn't catch her in time. I saw the 'scratching' but she was already squatting when I got to her. I need to pick up litter tomorrow, a small bag in case we chose to let her back out.

Kate had been asking for a kitty too, so we surprised her with "A kitty to play with for a little while" this morning. If we don't keep her I'll take her to the shelter, they're no kill, and she's so darn cute I'm sure she'll get adopted.

oh my goodness, it's been 5 days

my poor neglected blog!

Well, there really isn't a TON going on. I'm still working on SIL's hat. The ear flaps are proving more difficult than originally thought.

I am currently sitting here watching SNL's weekend up date - Thursday updates winding up for the real SNL. It hasn't been very good for the last few years, I loved it about 10 years ago, no, god it's been longer than that. Geeze. And of course, it will never be as good as it first was.

In other news. I've been looking around at colleges again. I do this every few months. With my love for midwifery you'd think I'd be looking into some sort of medical degree. But I'm honestly NOT interested in any of them. I'm sure I'll take some venipuncture courses (are there courses?) for drawing blood samples and such, but for "bettering myself through education" I am most interested in a degree in Literature or History. Not sure which, but apparently there are NO online courses offered!

Well, lets see, whatelse. Fall Festival was great, but I forgot my camera. Figures. Uuummm yeah.

Getting ready to start working on all the holiday socks I'll be making. I'm going to need at least 6 skeins. Oh and dh wants a pair of super soft around the house socks as well, so 8 skeins.

Bah, with nothing exciting, i've got nothing.

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day

Float on all you Angels
Settle in your mothers hearts



Today we remember those in our lives who have lost their children.



I cherish each day I spent with you
Each day I grew with you.



Today we remember the children we lost. We will never feel their gentle touch, or hear the sweetest voice. Today we remember the lives we hoped for, and the souls we long for.

Today I remember my friends who have suffered the loss of much wanted children. I hope they find peace. Today I remember my angel. Today I remember the angels of my dear friends.


But today I also want to remember, to share. We are not broken. Those who have not felt this pain will not know how to treat us. They may shy away. They may say the wrong thing. Do not fault them, for they don't know. I hope they never know. And for those of you who have not been here. The best thing to do, is let us cry, scream, yell, or ignore it. The best thing to say is "I'm so sorry" because, there are no words. There is nothing, anyone can ever say that will make us feel better.

Tonight, at 7 pm, light a candle for the losses of your little angels. I will, and I will think of all of you.



My Story



"A New House! A New Baby!" I kept hearing it from friends because we'd just bought our house! This was in April of 2004. About a month I had a positive pregnancy test in my hand!

At my first appointment something was wrong. The baby was too small for me to have the right dates. But we were charting to avoid pregnancy so I knew my dates were correct.

This lead to another appointment. I took a friend, and this time we could see that the baby had grown, but was still too small to measure the heartbeat. We could see that the heart was fluttering, or at least moving.

2 more weeks. Waiting. One evening I was spotting. I took myself to the ER. They wouldn't even look. "Go see your doctor" they said.

I go see the doctor, 2 days later. I took the husband. "I'm sorry" they said. I couldn't even cry. Not yet at least.

I opted not to have the DNC, I didn't want to risk any scarring that may inhibit the birth of our next live child. I miscarried 2 days later. It was more physically painful than our sons birth, and even more painful that the very fast birth of our daughter. Who would have though. I ended up in the ER again for too much blood loss.

Halia was born on August 4, 2004.

What a Deal!!! 92% off!!

This is also a test...to see how many of you have made it over.

I have a favorite store. And well, it's only my favorite because i can actually buy clothes, that I actually LIKE there. So I took some of our birthday money, and on Monday after the kids dentist appointment I went through Plato's Closet and found a pair of jeans, an old navy 3/4 sleeve black button down. found a sweatshirt/thick winter shirt for dh. Looks good on him ;) AND....

This.


































keep scrollin..................







































Please ignore goofy face, double chin....ect. It's the dress I'm posting ;)

and all for ................. wait for it...................






















That's right, a $130, for $12. New with tags.



And I think that's all for now, it's about time to shower, and then get my lazy bum up to the Teachers Resource Center and work on some fall festival stuff.That's this weekend!!!

Welcome to

Off the Hook........... with it's new URL!! http://offthehoodwithamanda.blogspot.com save it now!!!

I've started on my SIL's hat, I'm nearly finished with the brim :D Looking forward to starting the cap part.

Heads up!!

Changing the URL!!!!

If you have me bookmarked or through reader you're going to need to change it! Please contact me privately if you need the new URL!!!

It is time to make a list.

Yes, a list. I need to organize my thoughts for Christmas. Yeah, I know it's not even Halloween, but I'm MAKING gifts. I'm not decorating or buying decorations. (I have this hatred for seeing anything Christmas for sale before Halloween...and I started seeing it in August. It just irkes me to no end....there are other holidays between *now* and *then*)

ALRIGHTY....So...

For my sister-in-law...she requested at hat. So I did some digging, and she chose this one. I need to get moving on it.

For my other sister-in-law, my mother-in-law and my mother - socks! Much like those I made my grandmother. Which I can't believe I didn't post, or if I did, I can't believe I can't find it!!

From there I have planned to make some gifts for families in need. A few more pair of longies. Depending on how much wool I can get my hands on. And some...

Newborn hats

Hat and scarf
Or the hat and scarf on this page
Or this super cute infant/baby girl hat
I have a little girl in mind for a hat like this....
and this is cute

Maybe some baby socks for those families in need?

My son wants a yellow scarf, but I can't find the right texture yarn for it to be comfortable. So I'm starting with this for him.
I'm going to make one of these for my daughter. But I don't know what. She's also the reason I can't decide what hat to make....

Wow.....that's a ton of stuff. I better take a nap and get crackin!!!! HAHAHAHAHA

I need to prioritize. I've already started the hat. I'd like to add the star to my 'current projects' . Then I need to go buy yarn for the socks. They'll only take me 4-5 days per pair. I can work slowly on those. Then I'll figure out what I'm going to make for dd.

Then I'll jump on the Holiday Helper/Family in Need projects.

Introducing Strawberry Lemonade!

Here are Miss Ava's longies!! (in progress)

The waist band

Body and right leg.

The colors have really come together more as I've worked on them, I think I'm going to call them Strawberry Lemonade, because that's what they remind me of. I hope, hope, hope, hope, hope they fit!!!

Carrie, I WANT PICTURES!!! Of course, it would be helpful if I finished, blocked and mailed them huh!

Sporadic posting

I hate sporadic posting. Yet, I'm very good at it.

I have been very sleepy and having a hard time staying awake in the mornings, so I am resolving that and going to be earlier.....starting tonight. I hope to be asleep before 1 am.

At any rate, my computer still doesn't want to recognize my camera so I have zero pictures I can share. And I actually have a few to share of Miss Ava's longies, but God-forbid they actually get onto my computer.

My daughter, wonderful little curious thing she is, is into everything. It's like having a newly mobile infant again some days.

Oh my word, guess what just decided to work. I shall return shortly with photos :)

Bellatrix Lestrange Revisited

So, the husband is going to help me this year, and we're going to put together my Bellatrix Lestrange home made costume.

Yesterday I found the perfect boots, and a great dress. I just need the wig ( can't get my hair to do that lol) and a waist cincher/corsage corset thingy.

I am super excited!

And we're going to dress him up too, Sirius Black! These will be reused for at the very least the Harry Potter premier. We'll probably try to buy advanced tickets some how. I hope I hope I hope

We are done with Birthdays!!

The husbands birthday was on Thursday and mine was Friday. Yay! We're done!

I had managed to find a very nice looking magazine on the 60 year history of the Ferrari (his favorite manufacturer) and found it in AUGUST! I was so excited to give it to him and he LOVED it!

Yesterday was not what I was hoping for, but I still had a good birthday.


I have no pictures to update with at this time, but I have 2 projects on the hook, Ava's longies have reached the leg creation stage, and I'm still hoping I have enough yarn to complete this project. I'm sure I can obtain some more from Ava's mama, but I'm not sure that she has anymore of either color!!! ACK!! LOL Neither of us were expecting it would take more yarn than she sent. I balled the yarn thinking "Oh this is more than enough I'll have some leftover for a cute embelishment."

I also have hooked on the Flappy Hat for my sister-in-law, she has chosen very bright colors (well and black) so once I have finished the brim I will snap a picture.

Once I have finished that I am hoping to make the Invinceability Star, two Golden Snitches, and maybe a Pumpkin if I can find cheap yarn for it. Then I need to move on to the Christmas Socks I have planned, DD's hat and DS's scarf.

For now I have to go, I have GOT to get to the bank today.