Last NaBloPoMo Post!

1. WooHoo, last post in NaBloPoMo.  Not sure I want to do this to myself again.
2. Pink sleigh pulled by unicorns, must look into this
3. Allergic to my own Xmas tree, it is now living in the garage
4. Might have outdoor Xmas tree this year
5. TV digital connection on the fritz due to munchkin rapidly turning it on and off, can it hold out until next year's Black Friday?
6. Addicted to buckwheat chocolate chip pancakes that Owen is able to cook without setting the kitchen on fire.!
7. I wonder if Bob's Red Mill makes "french toast mix/kits".
8. Only 25 more shopping days til Xmas, ahhhhh!
9. I like that Hazel is young enough still that I can put her prezzies on the kitchen table and she doesn't even notice them.
10. Xmas cards picked up from Costco, but I still need to stuff them in the envelopes and address them.

Hagg's Tree Farm

Yay, we have our tree!

 We followed the signs up to Hagg's Tree Farm, it was kind of hard to miss as the little elves were at every intersection pointing out the way. First we stopped at the petting zoo area with goats and then had to go out back to see the donkeys.  There were also 2 friendly doggies that Hazel was a little unsure of.  She liked seeing them better when we were holding them, than when she was on the ground with them.  We picked out a pre-cut tree this time.  I do like cutting down our own tree, but this year it was easier to just pick one from their lot.  It was a little cold and muddy to have Hazel wandering around the tree farm.  Owen expertly tied it to the roof with his boyscout knots and we headed home.

Hazel is now addicted to watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer ever since she saw the lighted reindeer in our neighbor's yard!

Outtakes

Today we did our annual Christmas card photo. I take pride in the fact that I have taken every photo for our Christmas cards, but this year I almost wanted a professional to do it for me.



While Hazy was napping we set up the shoot in our side yard. We got the tripod out, we marked where the legs needed to be with chalk, we marked the edges on the grass so we would know where the edge of the frame was, we even bought a remote control so we wouldn't have to do the dash back and forth from the camera like I have done in previous years.



To get Hazy to smile we hung her glowworm doll under the camera and that worked, for maybe 2 shots.



But who would have guessed that what really made her happy was the remote control???? She was fascinated with it. We let her hang onto it to take some photos, but none of them turned out that great because she would stare down at the remote, and not look at the camera. We did get it back, eventually.



We took about 75 photos total, but at least we got a few that were acceptable. Some were absolutely horrible. Some are too embarassing to ever be seen by anyone. I do think it's interesting to see what kind of faces you can come up with when you're trying to wrangle a toddler for a photograph.



I don't want to spoil the people who might be getting the photo in the mail, so none of these are the final picture we chose.

Deck the Halls

I waited as long as I could! I just wanted to get the Christmas decorations up. We don't have a tree yet, because we're getting that tomorrow. And hopefully we will be getting our annual card photo tomorrow too!

I've missed seeing these decorations. Some are as old as I am, and some I bought in recent years, but they all are special to me in some way! This year I decided to incorporate my favorite movies in with the decorations, so the DVD cases are in there too.  So we have: A Christmas Story, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and A Charlie Brown Christmas.  Christmas music is essential for decorating, we listened to Andy Williams, Glee and Barenaked Ladies and Pink Martini!  Yeah, I have eclectic tastes in Christmas music :)  It's all good!

I wonder what Hazy will think tomorrow when she sees all the new stuff!

Good Eats

As much as I hate to admit it, Hazel is kind of a picky eater. We offer her a variety of different foods and most of the time she'll try it, then decide it's not what she wants and she'll throw it off her tray. She will also like a food one day and the next day think it's gross!

Some of the foods she likes right now are beans, eggs, almond butter, cheese, cottage cheese, toast, oatmeal, broccoli, cooked carrots, oranges, apples and sometimes grapes.

So, when she showed interest in his sandwich Owen gave her bits from it, and she demanded the whole thing! She started taking bites from it, it was entertaining to watch! I just wish she was more predictable on what she will eat!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Life's short, eat dessert first!

Hazel got into the apple pie before dinner. At first she was unsure about it, but then decided it was really tastey. Then I jumped in and did something I never do, 1)eat dessert before Thanksgiving dinner and 2) eat apple pie. Yeah, I'm more of a cookies and chocolates type person, not a pie person.  It was fun sharing that moment with her and I'm glad we got it on camera:)

Zoolights

Oh, the magic of Zoolights on a freezing autumn night! I think it's my favorite holiday tradition. And now that I have a baby, it's even more special.

Tonight was the members only preview night for the Zoolights and it was about 30 degrees at the zoo! Don't worry, Hazel was bundled up! She had on 2 shirts, 2 pants, 2 jackets, a hat and a scarf, oh and a blanket for when she was in the stroller. It's been a long time since I've seen her so mesmerized! The only time she made a sound was when we were on the train and she imitated us when we were calling it "choo choo". She was just wide-eyed and happy. We are definitely going to Zoolights more than once this year, especially since there was a camera snafu (Someone Owen forgot the battery for the camera at home and we only had our camera phones to take pictures with).

Snow Day

The snow and ice hung around today, so we took Hazy for a walk down the block. She didn't like walking on the icy sidewalk, because she kept falling down. And even though her bum is padded and she had a poofy jacket on, she just didn't like the idea of falling. At least I got a few cute pix of her all bundled up!




Here she is picking up a leaf that was frozen to the sidewalk. She didn't understand why she only got the stem. She probably thought it was a defective leaf.

Snow Night

I was hoping it would be a "Snow Day", but the snow didn't even start until 8pm!

All weekend the weather forcasters were predicting snow for this afternoon, and everyone was prepared this time (unlike that last time we had a freak snow storm and 1,000 cars were abandoned on our freeways). And of course, they just proved how they cannot predict the weather.

It'll be interesting to see what happens tomorrow. Will Portland shut down, or will it be rain as usual??


Here I am "skiing" down the driveway on a patch of frozen rain/ice


lines and textures


doh! I didn't get the sweater on our tree fast enough!



Leaf bowl?

Random Sunday Stuff

I was so tired that I ended up falling asleep around 8:30 last night and did not get around to blogging! Eeps! So, today there'll be two blogs :)

Owen and I went to see the new Harry Potter movie with some of my friends. It was actually a day for the books, because it is rare when the 4 of us and our significant others are in the same room together. I really enjoyed the movie. I remembered more of the book than I thought I would, since I read it over 3 years ago.




My favorite part of the movie was at the beginning when they were transporting Harry to the Weasley's house. It reminded me of a scene in the movie Garden State when Sam tells Andrew that "Sidecars are for Bitches" so that must mean that Harry is Hagrid's bitch, awesome!

We found a brand new fro-yo shop that opened near our house! I've been saying for months now that we needed one out here and now we have one! It's called Yogurt Munch. We shared a small sized fro yo. I was in charge of picking everything out, and I went with the Peanut butter-chocolate swirl, and the vanilla-pumpkin pie swirl yogurts. For toppings I added fresh fruit, m&ms, these strange gummy things that had liquid centers and chocolate sauce. Yeah, tasted a little weird. Owen didn't seem to notice, probably because it's exactly what he would have picked out. I think next time I would not do as many toppings like that together.

After reviewing the website, we found a few interesting flavors and toppings:


(click to embiggen)

Flowers from Hazy

Hazel bought these flowers for me "just because". She was out shopping with Owen and picked these flowers out all by herself!  I thought it was so sweet of her! Apparently roses are Hazel's "signature flower" for any arrangements that she picks out. Lucky me!!

Recent FOs

I've been getting some knitting done, even if "the sweater" I've dragged around with me for 3 months is not getting done. More on that later.

Felicity by Wanett Clyde
Rowan Kid Classic
4 days to finish, I really liked it. I made it for the BSD Project



One Skein Scarf by Denise Cozzitorto
Blue - Columbia Minerva Roma
Pink - Rowan Kid Classic
3 days to complete. Mods: Instead of the shell pattern, I ended up just doing a DC in each stitch around and 2 DC in each corner stitch. 1 extra row of DC in the pink.
Again, made for the BSD Project


Mens Fingerless Mitts by Kathy North
Stonehedge Fiber Mill's Shepherds Wool
8 Days to complete, given to Fran Healy



Mens Fingerless Mitts by Kathy North
Stonehedge Fiber Mill's Shepherds Wool
8 Days to complete, given to Owen for his birthday



My Crimson Green Jeans is slow going right now. Some time in September I had finished the back and one sleeve. I was about to start the second sleeve when I realized that the back was sucking in too far and that it needed to be redone. So, I frogged the whole cable rib section on the back, and started over with a 2 needle sizes larger. I"m liking the fabric a lot better, however it frequently goes into time out, because I'm so annoyed with having to reknit. Last week I started a new ball of yarn and as it happens it was from a skein that had more red dye in it and it was so obvious I ripped back 6 rows to start with a different ball of yarn. Thank goodness I'm almost done with the cable rib (just a few more inches). Then I need to do the 2nd sleeve and the button band.

Rainbow Stockings are Love

Saw this display at The Frederick Meyer and wished I could take it home with me! I love rainbows!

Orangutan Encounter

Hazel and I braved the blustery, rainy weather and went to the zoo today. We checked out the Otter, Sea Lion, Penguins, Polar Bears, Elephants, and Lions. The most touching moment happened with the Orangutan though. We dodged into the primate exhibit when the rain started and the Orangutans are the first animal in the exhibit. Now, I don't go to the primates exhibit as much as the other animals, because they look so much like humans I feel bad for them being held in cages, and I find that depressing.

well, the female Orangutan, Inji was hanging out in the back of her "room" playing with large sheets of brown paper. I wasn't exactly paying attention to see what caught her eye, but all of a sudden she got up to move. I thought she was going to play on her structure, but no, she came right up to the window and sat down. She was actually breathing on the window and she seemed so interested in me and Hazel. I took her picture and then I showed it to her. I have no idea why I did that. She was just kind of ho hum about it. Then I wheeled Hazel around so that I could fit them both in the frame. She sat there for about 2 minutes total, then she went off.

What a special encounter:)

Hazel is very familiar with these "monkeys" as we refer to them here, because this is her favorite youtube video right now!  She loves dancing to the music and she tries to copy the "monkey" by trying to take off her shirt and playing peekaboo.

Last Rose

This little one is the last rose of the year.
It's hanging in there, during the rain and cold.
Nature is pretty awesome that way.

Zoo Days

For my birthday this year Hazel bought me a membership to the Oregon Zoo. We try to go at least once a week, weather permitting - I'm not going to take her there when it's raining buckets or freezing cold. So far she LOVES it! She gets to see the real animals that she sees in the books, or that we do baby signs for. She has a look of awwe on her face when she sees each animal, and most of hte pictures I have are her facing the exhibit with her hands on the glass, peering in at the animal. We don't try to do the whole zoo each visit, we just focus on one area and we usually stay around 2 hours, which is enough time for her to be out and running around so that she gets a good nap, and it's enough time for me to be chasing her around. Starting after Thanksgiving is the annual Zoo Lights festival, my favorite holiday tradition. The zoo gets decorated in cute light displays and you can see some of the animals and ride the lighted zoo train. It's just a lot of fun!

Happy Birthday Owen!

Hope you had a fun day, even if you were not feeling well! Love you :)

Fran Healy Double Feature!

For Owen's birthday this year, I bought him tickets to see Fran Healy and Brandon Flowers at the Roseland Theater. I follow Fran on Twitter and he tweeted that he would be at Music Millennium at 3pm today! I told Owen we were going. So, we packed up Hazel and drove over to the East Side (gasp, hehe inside joke).



We got there right at 3 and there wasn't any place that great to stand. We found a semi-decent place to stand, where Hazy wouldn't bother anyone if she wanted to walk around (or play on the stairs). He played a few songs from his new record (Sing Me To Sleep, As It Comes, Rocking Chair), and 2 Travis songs (Driftwood and Selfish Jean). Then he came downstairs to sign autographs.



I managed to be 3rd in the line, wahoo. I was glad, because Hazel would not have wanted to stay much longer. We didn't want her running around the store and she was getting a little annoyed that we were holding her for so long.



Here he is signing my "Invisible Band" the album cover



Then he graciously took a picture with me and Hazy :)



I made him this pair of fingerless mitts as a present.  I remember last August I would have brought him a present if I had been thinking, so this time I planned ahead and made them while we were on in Tahoe.  I really hope that he likes them and uses them!

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Fast forward to tonight, Owen and I drove downtown, got coffee and maxed to the Roseland, in time to get in a very long line!  Luckily we weren't standing in the misty rain for too long.  Then we got inside and stood for 40mins waiting for Fran.  He started his set at 9pm.



He played a good mix of songs.  I was really disappointed that the inconsiderate people at the bar were talking, rather loud.  Loud enough that Fran asked them 2 times for them to shut up.  Annoying!  Oh well, he did a great job and I enjoyed listening him, even if I was the only one singing along.



His Setlist:
Sing
Sing me to sleep
Anything
Fly in the Ointment
As it comes
Dear diary
Blue flashing light

At 10pm Brandon came out on stage.



I have to be honest, I don't really know Brandon Flowers.  I am not a huge fan of The Killers and didn't know his name until I found out Fran was touring with him.  The only song I've heard is Crossfire, because it's the one on his website.  I know pretty much everyone there was there to see him, but we were there for Fran.  Despite not knowing his music I had a fun time, I just wished I had listened to his album first so I could get to know the songs better.

After 3 hours of standing, it was nice to take a walk back to the car! As it turned out, I'm really glad we went to the afternoon appearance, because then we didn't have to wait around for them to come out to sign autographs. I was just too tired to stay.