super long post :)

Time for a long over due update. I have recently TOLD josh he is going to marry me. He no longer has a choice in the matter. LOL. We are talking about getting married in sept. of 2010. I wanted a mexican themed wedding, food, music, tequila :) etc. I want a party. So here are a few of the dresses i like. THe black one is the bridesmaid dress my sister has picked out. She has decided that she is planning the wedding, which is ok with me since she is sooo much more girly than i am. There are only a few things i am not letting her pick out. Food, music and what time the wedding starts. I am sooo not getting married in the afternoon, I want a late wedding. There is no way i'm getting up at like 8 am just to get my hair done. I'm thinking more like noon to get the hair done maybe like a 3 or 4 start time for the wedding ? who knows i have plenty of time to think about it and have plenty of time to loose some weight :( ))) That is my double chin behind the sad face LOLI found this one on ebay for like 350.00
THese are like 184.00 A little higher than i think they should be but hopefully they will go down my 2010
I'm not sure where i found this one but I loved how it would make me look a bit more busty and hide the belly.

I went to a garage sale this week and this is the amazing finds that i gathered. She was selling all her yarn for only .50 a skein. The first day i only had five dollars so I bought what i could then went back the next day and almost bought all the stuff she was selling.
Counting the first five and what i spent the second day my total was about $22 :)

She just gave me the crochet thread.

This is red heart, i think it will make a nice fall blanket. I love these colors together. one is like a rust color while the other is a light mustard yellow.
Baby pink. I never have a reason to buy pink but i have to get ready to make some more stuff for the foster care children so i thought it would be a good idea to have pink on hand.
My free crochet thread. :) YEAHHHHHH
This is the afghan i'm doing for the ravelympics. I am calling it spiderbaby because when it is done it will look like a spiderweb.
This is my someday baby blanket. Josh and I know we want to have another baby "someday" so i figured as long as it takes me to finish a afgahn i'd better get started on it now :)

The garage sale finds included her giving me this tote. I also purchased a bag a fiber fill, some quilting batting, and two pillow forms.

This is what i bought the first day. I bought just enough to do a baby boy blanket with the solid blue and the varigated blue yarn. I thought it would be cute in the star shape. Who knows what it will end up as :)

OSU block O dishcloth pattern

My dear Josh helped me design this pattern for micah's principal for a end of the school year gift. He is a big OSU fan so here is our pattern for the OSU block O dishcloth pattern. Enjoy :)

I used sugar'n cream cotton yarn in red and size 7 needles

CO41

k4 rows in garter st

1-K all

2-K3, P35, k3

3-K all

4-K3, P35, K3

5- K all

6- K3, P10, K15, P10, K3

7- K11, P19, K11

8-K3, P7, K21, P7, K3

9- K9, P23, K9

10-K3, P5, K25, P5, K3

11-K7, P27, K7

12-K3, P3, K29, P3, K3

13-K5, P11, K9, P11 ,K5

14- K3, P2, K10, P11, K10, P2, K3

15-K5, P9, K12 P9, K5

16- K3, P2, K9, P12, K9, P2, K3

REPEAT ROWS 15 & 16 A TOTAL OF 12 TIMES

40- K5, P9, K13, P9, K5

41- K3, P2, K10, P11, K10, P2, K3

42-K5, P11, K9, P11, K5

43- K3, P3, K29, P3, K3

44-K7, P27, K7

45- K3, P5, K25, P5, K3

46- K9, P23, K9

47- K3, P7, K21, P7, K3

48- K11, P19, K11

49- K3, P10, K15, P10, K3

50- K ALL

51- K3, P35, K3

52- K ALL

53- K3, P35, K3

KNIT 4 ROWS IN GARTER ST TO FINISH,

BO

ALL GOOD :)

Well to all of you who have been there for me and stood by me with words of encouragement or prayers i want to thank you. I got the call from my doctor yesterday and he says that I'm stable. He does not think that i have lymphoma. I will have a follow up appointment on April 30th but right now al is looking good.
I do have to get another MRI on Sunday to see if I am having seizures but I'm not too worried about that yet. SO here we go with another wait and see game :)
thanks,
mandie

you have to try these

Mexican crepes:

We had some left over tortilla's after making taco's and decided to figure out how to make a dessert out of them.

They are super yummy, fast and cheap to make.

This is all you need:

1 pack of cream cheese

1/2 cup of powered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 pack of 10" flour tortillas

1 egg (optional)

and what ever you want to use to top dessert when done.

mix cream cheese, sugar and vanilla

place mix in a strip in the center of a tortilla

roll like a burrito (roll in the sides of tortilla)

at the flap you can use the egg as follows:

beat egg and brush on the flap of the tortilla like a glue to hold together

You could also use water to do this.

Place rolled tortilla in a pan of heated Crisco on the stove (med. high heat)

Use tongs to place in oil

leave in oil for 1-2 min. until brown then flip.

Once other side is browned you can do several things:

Sprinkle with cinnamon, sugar, powdered sugar etc

top with fresh fruit, melted chocolate or jam

This is so fast and sooooooooo yummy

Let me know if you try this recipe out I'd love to hear what you think.

much love

Mandie

Bored? bake some cookies :)

Well we had a great spring break. Because of all the wonderful snow we had here this winter spring break was only three weekdays long. It was a big yucky on a couple of the days for micah to go out and play so we decided to make cookies.

The first pic is of our Cool Whip cookies. They are sooo easy and super yummy. The next pic is of Galaxy cookies. They are fun and fast.

I signed up with the web site www.allrecipes.com they have everything you could ever want to make. They also allow you to have your own recipe box on their web site so you can always find what you are looking for. This is where i found the cool whip cookie recipe.

It called for lemon cake mix but we are more of a chocolate family :)

The galaxy cookies came from my moms betty crocker cook book from the 60's. I tried to make these when i was in girl scouts a long long time ago for a baking contest and i failed horribly. I vowed i would remake these cookies the right way some day and I did. Well we did, my son wanted them to be green cookies and i wanted pink so i got the frosting and he got his green cookies. What team work :)

It was a great couple of family days for us. I learn something new about them everyday.

more picks coming soon of my new knitting project :)

best wishes and happy stitches

mandie

fingers crossed

With everything going on with me medically we (josh and i) were hoping for a little ray of sunlight in the form of a promotion for him at work. Well after 5 interviews and two weeks of waiting josh found out that the most unqualified of them three canidates got the job. AHHHHHHHHH. We were really counting on that pay raise. Like most of the country our bills are growing fast and it just feels like there is no end in sight. I don't know what else to do. As soon as i get my test results back we are going to know what our next move is. I know that i most likely will not be going back to work but we have to find a better solution than what we are doing now.
I've been watching what we spend, no dinners out, no movies, i clip coupons like a mad women, i don't know what else i can do to help us out. Selling on ebay is going ok but not the numbers i need to see to help josh with the bills.
Well keep your fingers crossed on this matter and add us to your prayers cuz this road is getting really bumpy.
best wishes and happy stitches
mandie

It just keeps getting worse

During this god forsaken weather i have kept myself busy with lots of knitting. I will be able to finish the scarf seen above today. This is my summer skinny scarf. I loved the blend of the ribbon yarn with the mohair accents.

The other project is a pair of pedi socks for my sister. I think she will love them. I am making them with lion brand wool in olive green and a purple/blue color. THis pic does not do the color justice.

This is a view from my son's window of the neighbors yard. Late last night it was very slushy outside but not too much in the way of ice. Today however there is a huge layer of ice everywhere.

The tops of the trees are sagging with the weight of the ice. We had a few power outages last night too.

Even though it is sooo cold and gross outside it is still very beutiful to look at. I love the way these bushes look in my neighbors yard.

I am waiting for our power to go out at anytime. Just take a look at these wires coming off of our house. They are getting thicker and thicker. If we get anymore ice today these things are going to break. We also have alot of flooding too. The sandusky river is way way over it's banks and has flooded the local park and golf course.

This is my driveway last night. It is one huge sheet of ice. I really wanted to go walking around on it. :)

This is my Josh. He is cleaning off the back porch but first he had to break all the ice off of the shovel. Poor guy, he had to wear micah's gloves, We couldn't find his work gloves.


This has been a crazy weather week and it is just getting worse. Micah didn't have school today. He is soo happy but to bad it is so nasty outside he can't go out and play. We are watching the princess bride on HBO. He has never seen it and I just love passing on my wonderful movie knowledge. I want him to watch Annie. He loved the laybinth and he loves Star Wars. So far he is so into Princess Bride. We tried to let him watch Robin Hood Men in Tights but we quickly realized that it was a bit too grown up for him.

He recently started watching the Jetson's and the Flinestones.

Well i'm off to watch the movie with my boy and finish the pedi sock.

Best wishes and happy stitches.

Mandie

Oh this ohio weather :(

So two days ago it was nice enough outside that my son was able to get his bike out of the garage and go play with his neighborhood friends. Today is a whole different story. It started to rain last night, that rain has since turned into a nice layer if ice and now we have snow, ice and sleet.

The picture above is of the lines going from the house to the garage, they have about a half inch layer of ice around them.

This pic was taken from my son's room, that is not rain on the window, it is a layer of ice

Again a picture from my son's window. This is all ice. School was put on a two hour delay this morning and some town's nearby even sent the children home early. Not our school though :(

There is more on the way.

Today was also the presidential primary's voting in Ohio. I'm sure this weather hurt the voter turn out a bit.
I was able to talk my mother into voting, she really didn't want to leave the house.

I voted and have my sticker now :)

I guess i will keep mum about who i voted for but let me just say. May the best MAN win HEHEHE, hint hint ;)

I actually did research on this round of voting and watched several of the debates. I was amazed at how much slander goes on via the internet. People are really passionate about who they want to win and i don't personally ever remember a time in my almost 30 years of life where so many young people were this excited about voting and the election.

I'm very happy that they finally realize they have a say and not just with what they put on a t-shirt.

Well on the knitting front.

I have started my summer skinny scarf. I made this with two yarns blended together. One is berroco glace in a deep red almost wine color and the other is a verigated fuzzy green mohair. I can't remember who made this yarn as i lost the label many months ago. I think it is coming out wonderfully. I'm making it in a K2, P2 rib stitch.

Best wishes and happy stitches

Mandie

Brand new stitch markers, super cute!!!

Hey all,

I have been working on soooo many knitting projects but i have taken some time out recently to work on my stitch markers. They have been selling like hot cakes on ebay so i figured i better keep up with the demand :)

above are some pictures of my new creations.

All of the makers above can been seen on ebay.

Enjoy,

Best wishes and happy stitches

They are finally done !!!!

I have been working on these on and off for what seems like forever. I started and finished the sock on the left side of the picture yesterday.


Oh how my hands hurt soooo bad. I used size 3 needles so now my fingers are permently curled.


lol


Well i think i'm going to give it another try with a super cute pattern i found.

I have had lots of knitting time lately. This has been such a bad winter. This wonderful state of Ohio has been hit yet again by a huge snow storm.
Two days of missed school and one happy little boy. My son woke up to this great big blanket of snow and he couldn't of been happier.
Well i guess he will get to use his snow toys he got for christmas.

Best wishes and happy stitches


mandie

Gothic lace pattern

From a very old knitter dictionary from my great aunts collection:

The Gothic lace pattern:

Multiple of 8 stitches plus 1.

special abbreviations:

SKP: slip 1 knit 1, pass the slipped stitch over

S2KP: Slip 2 stitches as if to work knit 2 together, knit1, pass slipped stitces over

YO: Yarn over

Row 1: *K1, YO, SKP,K3, K2tog, YO; repeat from * to last stitch, K1

Row 2: Purl

Row 3: *K2, YO, SKP, K1 ,K2tog, YO, K1; repeat from * to last stitch, K1

Row4:Purl

Row 5: *K1, YO, SKP, YO, S2KP, YO, K2tog, YO; repeat from * to last stitch, K1

Row 6: Purl

Row 7: *K2, YO, SKP, K1, K2tog, YO, K1; repeat from * to last stitch, K1

Row 8: Purl

Row 9: *K3, YO, S2KP, YO, K2; repeat from * to last stitch, K1

Row 10: Purl

Row 11: *K1, K2tog, K1, YO,K1, YO, K1, SKP;repeat from * to last stitch, K1

Row 12: Purl

Row 13: * K1, K2tog, K1, YO, K1 YO, K1, SKP; repeat from * to last stitch K1

Row 14: Purl

Row 15:* K1, K2tog, K1, YO, K1 YO, K1,SKP; repeat from * to last stitch K1

Row 16: Purl

Row 17: * K1, YO, SKP, K3, K2tog, YO, K1; repeat from * to last stitch, K1

Row 18: Purl

Row 19: *K2, YO, SKP, K1, K2tog, YO, K1; repeat from * to last stitch, K1

Row 20: Purl

Row 21: * K1, YO, SKP, YO, S2KP, YO, K2tog, YO; repeat from * to last stitch, K1

Row 22: Purl

Row 23: *K2, YO, SKP,K1,K2tog, YO, K1; repeat from * to last stitch, K1

Row 24: Purl

Row 25: *K3, YO, S2KP, YO, K2: repeat from * to last stitch, K1

Row 26: Purl

repeat these 26 rows

Enjoy:

best wishes and happy stitches,

mandie

baby sweater finally finished

This wonderful little bundle of joy is Phoenix Raynes. He is so sweet and a baby punk rocker in the making. I made him this sweater fromt he "baby's first tattoo" pattern from the Stitch N' Bitch nation book.

This is his awesome mommy Morghan.

I made this for Phoenix's big brother Saige rivers. This is the "knit your own rock star" pattern from Stitch N' Bitch nation book. This is Henry Rollins.

Next on the project list is a pair of leg warmers for Morghan.

my ebay

Hello all,

I've been out for the past couple of days with a killer headache. My pain killers are not working much. I try to take them as little as possible because i don't want to "need" them.

So i have decided (at a friends advice) to start selling some of my stitch markers. I love making these and i think they are super cute so i decided to put some of them on ebay. If your interested in them or know someone who may be check out my ebay store at My ebay store URL:http://stores.ebay.com/mandies-medical-fund
I think they are cute and most of them are no snag. Again, these are all handmade by me. The shipping is free and these are not an auction, they are buy it now for only $5 for the set.

Thanks,

mandie

Well well well, how long has it been. I suppose i could go back and count the months but lets not dwell on my tardiness. So since we have last spoke i have had a bunch of things happen.
First of all don't you just love the new family pictures? I personally think that my boys are the cutest ever.
I had a Britney spears moment and decided to cut off all of my hair. Luckily I have a hair stylist with common sense and she stopped me. Instead she took off 10 inches of my hair which was donated to Locks of Love. This is an organization that takes hair donations to make wigs for cancer paitents. This is my third time donating to the organization. I thought i would get a ribbon or a discount on my hair cut because of this but no go. lol

I have quit my job. I was having oddles of medical problems and needed some time to take care of my body. Plus it was getting a bit difficult to travel to work everyday with the headaches i'm having. I hope to return someday but i know right now that i can not perform my duties the way they need me too.

On the health front. I was told by my neurosurgeon in august that they had found "something" in my lymph nodes in my neck. They wanted me to see an oncologist for lymphoma. It took forever but i finally got to see one. They ordered a set of CAT scans. I had these done on Friday. Monday i got a call that the scans of my cheast and abdoman came out fine. Then Tuesday I get "the" call. They said my actual thoat is fine but the Lymph nodes are inlarged. They want to wait 3 months to see if it was just an infection or if they have grown. Man i wish i would of save that hair i donated. lol.
I'm trying to be as positive as possible right now. If i dwell to much on this the next 3 months will be pure hell. Who knows what it is but i am just trying to keep it out of my little "mind bubble" lol. We have decided not to tell micah anything until we know for sure. He went though so much when i had my brain surgery and i don't want him to have to go though that again. He worries so much about me. We will tell him if we have to but fingers crossed we won't have anything to tell him.

Knitting: Oh the knittin i've done. I have just finished a cute little cable knit purse and just bought another new pattern for one. Lots of hats and scarves have been donated to the foster care children of the county thanks to the Trinity Stitchers. This is a knitting and crochet group that i started to help the foster care kids of my county. We made blankets for all of them and even gave extra for any new children they may get. The job and family services contacted us to let us know that alot of children are coming into the office without hats, gloves or scarves. With the weather here in ohio getting down to 15 degrees here in the past week we needed to do something for these kids. I'm proud of the ladies in the group. They all answered our call for help and now the J&FS have so many hats and scarves they were able to sit a box in the lobby for anyone who may need them to take them. I stopped in the office the other day to drop off more and saw a women walk out with hats and scarves for her three kids. It felt so good to know that my little obsession is going to keep some kids warm this winter.

Well I think that is about the long and short of it all. I'm trying to stay well, trying to knit lots of things and focus on my family.
Until next time:
Best wishes and happy stitches.
Mandie