Jo Knits!

Scotch I said

Once a year I feel very proud of my Scottish heritage, my family name is associated with the MacTavish clan. Of course I am only a small percentage scottish and a boat load of other heritages too. We never had any scottish related holidays or traditions but each and every year on a special day I just feel proud. So what makes me celebrate my heritage like this each year? The bagpipe guy! LOL! Once a year there's a bagpipe guy that practices his instrument in the parking of a motel close by. You can hear him a few streets away but boy does he love to play outside.

Yesterday Lucas and I were walking by the park and we got to assist to our very personal bagpipe and drums concert. There were 15-20 players praticing their walk and music, sure they will be in the competition or parade this weekend. Sunday will be the Montreal Highland Games, with kilts everywhere, highland dancers to charm my little Zoe and music to be heard to make me proud of loving the sound of bagpipes. Then there's all the shopping that can be done in over 60 boutiques that sell anything you can think of. Of the pure pleasure to go for a day at the Highland Games but no, I can not go. For years now the closest I have been to the event is simply hearing my bagpipe guy practice his music for hours in a parking lot. Hope your team wins!

Back to frogging baby booties for the 2nd time, they just seem so small. Will try to make them at least 4,5" long.

Surprise day off

Everyone knows that I LOVE my job, I only started working for the 1st time in my life back in january. I am an inventory specialist! (LOL! I just love saying that 'cause no one knows what an auditor is and that's the true name of my job). Today I went to work at the office, we rarely work there as we usually count stock in stores. Yesterday and today was just data entry, something I haven't done much before. I really liked it as I could work as long as I wanted. Since I didn't have any stores booked all week I racked up 14 hours in 2 days. Tomorrow (friday) as a surprise I am off, we finished the listings a tad quicker than the office expected AND I got my paycheck while there. The big surprise is that my paycheck is triple what I expected it to be. LOL! Now THAT is reason enough to go crazy and spend, well I do need to pick up the latest Interweave Knits issue after all. ;) Then as a special *I rock as I work hard* reward I might just indulge and get that Phildar book I've been eyeing.

As much as I loved being a SAHM (stay at home mom) for the past 4 and a half years, working energizes me now. I look forward to going to work all the time, I am also pretty lucky as I don't work regular schedules like most people, which gives me a lot of time home with the kids too. It feels great to know that I, too, can provide for my family. It also gives me a chance to feel valuable at home and at work. I am VERY shy in real life and going to work and talking with new people all the time is good for me, still I don't call to order pizza but I try to talk more when I meet friendly faces. In a way I'm sure it made me become a better person, I understand a lot more how Carl feels some days when he comes home exhausted from work. I used to think he was faking it! LOL! Hey, being home all day with kids is pretty hard work too. lol!

Wishing you all a great weekend, I will be happily working saturday, sunday and monday. Hopefully after I will get a few days off though. LOL!

Never Boring

Look who got to get a visit from the tooth fairy last night! We even wrote her a letter to tell her to take good care of Zoe's tooth. I frantically sewing her a little pouch to put her tooth inside to tuck under her pillow.

Ever since I met Kajin at the Montreal meetup, I've been curious about the Phildar pattern books. Never had I thought I could knit french patterns (even though we only talk french at home!), I went to check out the latest Pitchoun issue and it is lovely. Already I have a sweater in mind to knit for each kid. They really have cute things to knit up. I almost bought the book right there but then they didn't have the recommended yarn, so I waited. Then again I could simply save and substitute the yarn, then I could start on the sweaters asap. Oooooh how exciting!!!! I might actually knit a sweater.

After being attacked by spammers a few times, I finally got MT-Blacklist. I thought it would be very complicated to install but it wasn't I got it on the first time too. It helped me delete all my spam comments without having to delete them all one by one.

Off to bed, gotta get up for work bright and early. :)
hugs,

Tuesday morning,

Tuesday morning, less than 5 weeks left before Zoe enters the big world of going to school. She couldn't be more excited and she doesn't even know what it is all about. For her mostly seeing friends everyday will be making her happy. She always wants to see friends and talks to just about any kid at the park, she could care less that they are 5 years older than her, all she wants is to make friends. I'm the total opposite! LOL! So this weekend we went shopping with the official school list and bought everything mentionned on it, we were warned to buy exactly what's on the list. I find it lame as they sure didn't take all the cheapest necessities and I'm sure some parents will be buying the cheaper versions of a few items. Now I have the lovely job of writting Zoe's name on each and every crayon and item we bought. Yes, even on every single Crayola wax crayon. Ugh!

So Miss Zoe is entering kindergarden, time sure flies once they hit school. If I could I'd bottle up the kids and keep them at the age they are right now. It's going to be hard to get up every day and have a morning routine. ACK! Then there's the sick days she'll miss or the dentist/doctor's appt to take while she has a day off. No more spur of the moment days where we just take off to no where. Sure Lucas will still be home but the kindergarden schedule is so weird, we'll almost never have time to do much before having to get Zoe for lunch time or after school.

Signs that time is flying by, Zoe's first tooth is wiggling and it freaked her out! LOL! We were eating corn on the cob and she bursted into tears, saying she didn't do it on purpose. I couldn't figure out what she was talking about and then both my mom and I just started laughing. I quickly googled for the tooth fairy and we reassured her that all would be ok. Luckily another 5 year old girl we know lost her tooth and her mom blogged all about it so I rushed over to her blog and showed Zoe. She was smiling and all was fine, she never did finish her corn though. The next day I rushed to the bookstore to find her a book that would reassure her and would cultivate the tooth fairy magic. I chose the Dear Tooth Fairy book by Alan Durant, it is a gorgeous book with little envelopes on the pages with special notes from the tooth fairy. By the end of our story time we even got to receive a special tooth fairy coin. I could not recommend this book enough, the images in it are terrific and the story is wonderful. Oh and YES obviously we do believe in the tooth fairy, just like we believe in Santa Claus. I like magic and to see kids eyes light up over magic is fun.

Over the weekend we rented the movie 50 First Dates. What a fun movie, sure there are some things I would have wished not seeing, like an event that happens in the 1st minute of the movie of so that involves a big mammal but other than that it was a great movie to see. It made me wonder how I would deal with such a situation, sure it's a movie but to have someone try to make you fall in love with them every day is cute. It also made me think about what would I change in my life if I had only one year to live (no this doesn't have anything to do with the movie). Is there people I would exclude from my life for those last few months, would I be different in my way to live day to day life!?

Still working on the baby hat for my neighbor. Also searched for some cute booties online and found a few models. Should start on those asap too, want to try to get those done before she actually goes into labor.

hugs,

ARGH!

Well I just got 2800 new emails in my inbox announcing the new 2800 spam comments I just got on my blog. This is very aggravating as it is the 2nd time in 2 weeks that I have to delete a boatload of spam comments on my blog. It almost makes me want to close my comments, since anyways almost no one leaves me any. I am not sure how to deal with this but I just HATE it!

So much has happened this week, sadly I have no time to blog, tonight we are working/counting in a ladies clothing boutique.

hugs,

Meetup.com

Last night after a crazy day at work I went to the knitting.meetup.com night. Sure, I might have been VERY fashionably late and no I wasn't wearing anything fashionable BUT what I did get was an evening of pure fun. Luckily Veronik was going so I called her to warn her about my being late, she's used to it and still insists we stay friends. LOL! ;) We left the meetup past 10pm and I made it home at 11pm. I will not be in the best of moods at work today but it was SO worth it anyways. LOL!

Also I got to see the Knit Wit book from Knitty's editor. It features many of the Knitty designs and a few new neat ones too. It was fun to get a look at the book when most people are still waiting for it. teehee! Also I saw a few designs that I actually knitted when they 1st appeared in Knitty.com and now they're in the book too. I might not knit the ice cream pint cozy but there are some cute mittens, a yoga mat bag and boxers that looked interesting. LOL!

Well off to work, this blurb took me too much time to even have breakfast, oh dear. ;)

p/s: Happy Birthday MOM!!!!! :)

hugs,

Down by the water

Today we went for a picnic by the water. We haven't gone there for months now and it was really a terrific family day for all of us. We ate on the ground (it's not a 'real' picnic if you are eating on a picnic table! LOL!) then Lucas guided us to the trail that goes right to the water. We then spent an hour and a half just throwing rocks in the water and checking the waves boats made when they came closer. The kids were so proud to show us one of their favorite spots that my mom would bring them too while we were away. It was like we left Montreal for a few hours, we felt as if we were away on vacation and still an hour later of walk and we made it home. It was an amazing day where we were just all happy. If I weren't working monday morning, we'd go back in a heartbeat. I am predicting a few more picnics by the water soon. Of course the next day I can go is only friday, so we'll see by then but it sure became our favorite spot in Montreal since today!!! :)

I started a baby hat using my new Addi Turbo needles, oh my goodness am I ever in LOVE!!!! These needles are amazing and they are not even the practical 16" size that would make my experience even better. I was really eager to try them out so I am using the magic loop technique to knit the hat. So the hat is coming along nicely, being that I am so busy this week I doubt I'll even have time to finish it. Then I promised a good friend that I would work on some socks in progress, I only have an inch to knit on 2 socks to complete two pairs. So she will be pestering me until they are knitted! LOL! I have such good friends. ;)

Talking about good friends, I went out with Veronik this saturday and we had a blast. You should have seen us both drooling over the EMPTY Old Navy store we saw. They are JUST about to open in Quebec and we are both pretty eager to go shopping there. LOL! I might even apply to the one opening closer to my home too. We'll see but getting paid to wear their clothes might be a good thing after all. ;)

Wishing you all a great new week! :)
hugs,

Boom!

The 12 required BEEP, BEEP, BEEP and then BOOM! The dynamite explosion happens. Oh the joys of living right next to a construction site. They started yesterday and Carl brought the kids over to the construction site almost all day. Let me tell you that the 1st explosion scared the heck out of me. Outside they don't sound so scary but when you're in the house the whole place shakes. The constructions are scheduled to last for the next 2 years. Oye! Hopefully the dynamite explosions will only last for a few days. We are lucky though, they could have started bombing at 7am when the workers starts their day.

Today is a slow day for us, dh is off to his new job and with the raining weather we got these past few days I'm not eager to go anywhere with the kids. Maybe I'll just lounge around the house and knit the 2nd slipper for myself. Then I'm more and more convinced I should start working on a baby set for a pregnant neighbor. They are expected their 2nd child and first daughter in their whole extended families. It sure is a big thing for them and a cute knitted pink gift might make them happy.

Sad

Today I am in a slump. It's too hot, I can't seem to get enough sleep ever since we got home. I am exhausted even though we have the week off. Carl has found a new job, not that he was looking but he got a call for an interview and well, he got the job. So we won't get to work together except on weekends. We were booked already for next week so I'll get to see him then but that will be it for a while I am afraid. It has been so much fun this 6 months of inventory I'm just sad that we won't be going to work together anymore. It's always nice to wake up with someone when the alarm clock beeps at 5am.

This is the slipper that I worked on yesterday. It's, of course, too small. LOL! What else is new? So frogging it as we speak and I'll start over using bigger needles.

Off to eat homemade lasagna and drink kidmade lemonade with sweetened brown sugar.

back to knitting

Just casted on for a pair of garter stitch slippers with cuffs. I little boring garter stitch is just what I need to get back into knitting mildly. I have seen a few projects I want to make, like baby booties and hat combo for a pregnant neighbor. Maybe I'll splurge on super nice baby yarn just for the kick too. Knitting for babies is so much fun and you can't deny it, quick. LOL!

Also I've been slowly working on my little Nova Scotia bookmark. I bought this cute kit at the museum of industry. It's coming along very nicely and it's such a pleasure to cross stitch. It's light than knitting and carries along pretty well in the subway too. No worries, I haven't stabbed anyone with my little needle. LOL!

Well that's me for today,

clean up

I just manually deleted every spam comment I had on my blog. I went through each and every one of my 385 entries and deleted more spam than I ever want to see on my own blog.

Got up bright and early this morning for work. We counted at a Foot Locker store, it went smoothly, I tad too much if you ask me. Not even 4 hours work and we were done for the day already. Luckily it was still early and both Carl and I felt like splurging on a grand breakfast at Cora's (THE place for breakfast in town). Then OF COURSE they were out of strawberries so no, I couldn't order the tons of strawberry waffle plate. Argh! Called our office and we only work saturday afternoon, until further notice, as usual. Oh well this time off is good, if only I didn't have such bad insomnia since we got home more than a week ago.

Back to reading the lastest FCEK! Now be honest, isn't the East meet West cardigan wonderful?

Back to work

As everyone starts enjoying their weekend, I, go back to work after a nice week off. Tonight we are working at Harry Rosen's and monday morning bright and early we shall count in a sporting goods store. It will be weird going back to working in all sorts of stores after our six months of Walmart stores but it'll be fun getting to see the people we used to work with.

Yesterday, Carl and I went to the One of a kind show at the Old port of Montreal. If you plan on going be sure to get your 2$ off coupon HERE. Then once you visit they'll even give you a ticket to come back for free. I plan on going back before the end so it's a good thing. LOL! I was sad that a few designers I was hoping to see weren't there. Last year I hesitated too much and passed up the opportunity to get a Foxy Originals piece. I was eager to see what they would offer this year, instead they weren't there at all. :( We did find some great tasting raspberry jam and a blend of special spices to make our own great tasting chai tea.

Still s-l-o-w-l-y working on one of the kids rainbow hat. They'll get to fight over it when I am done but I might just get another kit so they'll have matching winter hats. I'd love to knit them some thrummed mittens too. I will start with my thrummed socks and see how difficult it is before promising the kids mittens. LOL!

I am eager to knit something but still I can't seem to find the motivation to just start a project. Good thing I have a friend (yes, YOU Veronik!!!) that keeps on pushing me to get the knitting machine out and start using it now that I actually purchase one. So someday I just might some actual knitting progress to talk about...

hugs, enjoy the weekend

Mondays are great...

when you are not working! Teehee! Until tomorrow, I have no clue what days I will be working for the next few weeks. We might go and do inventories at 2 grocery stores on wednesday but it's yet to be confirmed. Inventories aren't as popular in the summer months, both Carl and I might have to go on unemplyment until they pick up again in the fall. After working like crazy for the past 6 months over 6 provinces a few days/weeks off isn't too bad. This is after all my 1st job and I still LOVE it!!! Who knew making money could be this fun. Never have I traveled as much by truck, I still get motion-sickness but as doing a lot better. I started to even sleep and read in the van, maybe the Gravol has something to do with that though.

Our seven weeks in atlantic Canada where spectacular, it is weird to spend so much time with fellow workers. I saw most people of our 33 person team everyday, except for the 3 days we went home after 3 weeks. We went to the laundymat with our bosses, we had people in our hotel room just about every night. We never had to make up our beds or cook any meals. So ok... maybe those were my favorite part of the ride. Getting to eat out at every meal. LOL! Still I missed fresh fruits and veggies so bad, we have been eating salads non-stop since we came back. We did go a tad crazy on eating lobster for almost a whole week in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. We even brought some back home too. Lucas sure enjoys lobster.

The kids have grown and are cuter then we remembered, our return went very well with them. Zoe is pretty excited about starting school in less than 2 months. Kindergarden is SUCH a huge step for her, we already received her list of "stuff" to buy so shopping is in our future plans. We are planning on going away with the kids for a few days, most likely to Ottawa or Toronto. It's funny how I know exactly what I want my hotel to include in services. LOL! My mom laughs saying I'm now a hotel room expert. teehee!

Some great things happened while we were away, I got to meet Kathryn from the Fleece Artist and I also met Lucy Neatby's husband. He very generously offered us a tour of his wife's little knitting haven. It was fun to see where the patterns offered at Tradewind Designs were created. Carl did get to meet Lucy in person too, I, at least got to talk to her on the phone. Over the weekend that I visited both places I splurged and both a thrum socks kit from Kathryn, a rainbow hat and a fir tree shawl kit from Lucy. I also purchased my 1st pair of Addi Turbo circular needle. Woohoo!!! I can't wait to call back both women and order more from them. The Fleece Artist sells some of the softest and most amazingly dyed fibers and Tradewind Designs has a few more kits I want. Yes, I finally understood that it IS worth buying from Canadians and try out yarns other than acrylic. LOL! Oh and note the hemp/wool and hemp/cotton yarns, those actually came from my workplace. WALMART!!! LOL!

Well enough ramblings for today, I'll continue tomorrow.

Home at last!

Well we are back from the land where lupins grow wild all around. New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island are simply gorgeous places to visit.

I will take a few days off to recuperate from this wild 7 week adventure in the maritimes, our six months of Walmart inventories are over too. Living in hotels, eating out every day, travelling in our beloved Astro van every few days was crazy. No more wake up calls at 5am for a while. Pure pleasure of being home, though I didn't remember my bed wasn't comfy. Ack!

hugs, need to catch up with everyone's blog

p/s: Talk about sexy knitting in the latest Knitty issue, ooh lala!!!