10-22-2015 My Favorite Hike

One of my favorite hikes

is to the burned out castle at the top of this hill.

Someday, I want my ashes spread here

off the balcony

onto the hillside below.

This lovely spring-fed stream runs below the castle.

10-21-2015 Happy Birthday DD

Check out the pretty birthday cake

the GDs made their mommy!

It sparkles!

10-20-2015 Creepy Ceiling

Check out the ceiling in our hotel room!!!

DH & I are getting out of Dodge for a few days

and encountered this in our hotel for the first night.

Makes me wonder what they are trying to cover up!

10-19-2015 Sleeves Done!!!

Today I finished knitting the sleeves to my

GGN (Global Gathering Norway)

Norwegian Ski Sweater.

Now comes the scary part...steeking/cutting

the body tube at the top to insert the sleeves!

Yikes!!!

Kitty is "helping" me prepare the armholes.

10-18-2015 Hand Dyed Yarns

A friend at my LYS

is learning how to hand dye yarns

and is giving demos every week on each new project.

It's giving me the urge to try...

as sometimes I cannot for the life of me

find just the right color yarn for a project.

I need another hobby

like I need another hold in the head! Ha.

10-17-2015 Going Gray

I've decided to stop coloring my blond hair

and go grey...

I am now a granny, after all...

we'll see how it goes...

I may change my mind and go back to coloring.

10-16-2015 Giants

Speaking of GIANTS...

check out these pumpkins 

at our local grocery store!!!

Wow!!!

10-15-2015 Jack-O-Lanterns

The GDs carves these scary Jack-O-Lanterns

with their daddy's help.

10-14-2015 First 3 year old Preschool Picture

10-13-2015 Kitchen Fun

GDs 

making some cherry pies 

for their mommy for dinner.

(Lots of fun for the girls...

lots of mess to clean up for Oma!...

but she doesn't mind...too much!)

10-12-2015 Say "Cheese"

10-11-2015 First Jack-O-Lantern

Today, my son helped GS#1 carve his first Jack-O-Lantern!

Thanks for sharing this picture, son!

Wish we were there to see this in person!

And DD and family had their annual family photos taken!

Can't wait to see the rest of the pix!

10-10-2015 Don't Text and Paint!

Today I learned

"Don't Text and Paint!"

because this is the result...

dropped paint on the concrete!

I decided to take advantage of 

the 80*F temps and clear skies

to paint the trim around the doors and garage

and the porch posts today. 

While in the midst of doing this painting,

my DD texted me,

so of course, I HAD to reply,

and we got this texting conversation started

which I tried to do WHILE painting...

and ended up dropping paint on the concrete!

That will teach me to try and do two things at once!

Took me longer to clean up the concrete than it did to paint!

But, all's well that ends well...

the house trim is now protected for another Iowa winter!

10-9-2015 Fall Colors

GD's helped me make this

seasonal Fall bouquet

for my front entry table

and painted a Jack-o-lantern face 

on one of the pumpkins!

10-8-2015 Pumpkin Patch

DH and I checked out this Pumpkin Patch today...

10-7-2015 One Last Trip

Today was one last trip to the zoo

before it closes for the season!

The train conductor let GD#1 sit in the engine

and showed her how to ring the bell

and toot the train whistle...

and let her do it all by herself for several times!

 She was all smiles after that!

 Monkey-ing around at the ape house...

 GD#2 has her "cheesy" camera smile down pat, LOL...

10-6-2015 Wandering Moon KAL

Finished the first week's instructions

for the Wandering Moon KAL.

10-5-2015 Spiders

10-4-2015 Green Bay Packers 4 and 0 !!! Woo Hoo!!!

Here is my "Scoreboard KAL" scarf so far...

my Green Bay Packers are 4 and 0 so far!

Woo hoo!!!

I'm finding it hard to photograph the dark green...

it always looks like black in the pictures.

I hate it when that happens.

I don't have enough camera and/or photo-editing knowledge

to fix it. So sad.

(DH and I actually recently discussed taking a 

photography and photo-editing class together

sometime in the near future.)

10-3-2015 O the Boov

 Yesterday, I asked GD #1

"What do you want to be for Halloween?"

GD#1:  "O the Boov."

Me: "Do you have your costume already?"

GD#1: "No, it hasn't been downloaded to my house yet."

Well, apparently it was "downloaded" in today's mail

because DD sent me this pix

of GD#1 in her "O the Boov" consume today!

Doesn't she look happy?!?!?

10-2-2015 Two Story Tall Sculptures

Spent 7 hours driving yesterday

to a meeting in DesMoines.

These HUGE (2 story!) sculptures

greeted us in the lobby.

I was curious how the artist made something

so large...it looked like it was ceramic...

and I've never seen a kiln this big!!!

Perhaps the artist made it in smaller sections

and then stacked them?

This type of art is typically NOT my cup of tea,

but it was interesting to study!

10-1-2015 Decorating for Fall

GDs and I went to the garden center

this morning to buy some decorations

for Fall and Halloween...