Outdoor Inspiration

In the past year, we have seen A LOT of water. A LOT. We were on the Oregon Coast in Brookings for quite awhile. It is SO soothing to look at water crash onto sand beaches when it's a blustery 50 degrees outside. I LOVED it! Even though we were in a travel trailer, I could take my little Mr. Mr. across the street and to an ocean overlook and watch the big waves. It was SO peaceful!

And then we were in Elma, WA. Not right on the water, but we could drive to Seattle, and we did, quite frequently. And you know what Seattle is famous for! That's right, the PIER! LOVED that pier! All the noise, and the smells (only a few bad ones). It was so great! I'm a closet city girl.

 And then we were in a few other places where there was no water. But as of YESTERDAY, we have landed just north of Othello, WA on the Potholes Reservoir. And the view is AMAZING! Our cabin overlooks the water from the dining area, and we get to watch the sunsets and the duck hunters. AND, to make it all authentic, there's signs everywhere that say, "We'll pluck your duck for a buck!" No joke! Hilarious! And really, this picture doesn't do the view justice. I just took it with my phone. Out the window. Yeah, cause it's cold, (and that's how I roll.)

Creatively Creating for a Giveaway!

There is something so SATISFYING for me to create something tangible. I get a kick out of designing for print, don't get me wrong, but I think it has something to do with the cold winter months that has me turning to knitting. It's so WARM, and FUZZY, and when I finally get finished with something I just LOVE LOVE LOVE it in all it's messed up glory.

PLUS it helps that I've had a ton of friends having babies lately so i've been making super cute little hats for their little ones. And they're babies so they can't say they hate it! I am by no means an expert. I YouTube knitting videos when I get to a stitch I don't know, or sometimes I don't even have a clue what they're talking about. Then I Google it and THEN YouTube it! Here's a look at some of the cute stuff I've done lately.

 So here's the fun part! I have pictures of 5 things that I've knitted. I'd like you all to leave a comment telling me which ones were from a pattern, and which ones I just made up as I went along! 1 point for each right answer, and 1 bonus point if you can tell me which pattern which ones were made from! So get to searching! In the event of a tie I will throw scraps of paper in a basket and pick blindly, and the winner will get a FREE custom design for web! No websites, something along the lines of a banner or blog button.  Get to it!

Feeling the Winter DULLdrums

Lately, we've been hit from every side with every scenario possible that could "sink our ship". Our "ship" is a 26 ft. travel trailer. My hubbins, "El Capitan", me "El Capitan Dos" and our "First Mate", have been given a run for our money. Hubbins had to go to climbing school, and left last Saturday before First Mate woke up. That started the whole thing. 

My 2 year old First Mate misses his dad. LIKE CRAZY. And wont let me out of his sight. That was 11 DAYS AGO! So first we had subzero temperatures that threatened our water pipes into our trailer, but I got those thawed out. 

Then everything turned to 3 inches of ice and made even walking treacherous, which led to us being cooped up in our ship for DAYS. DAYS! 

The First Mate started getting his 2 year old molars while being cooped up in our 26 ft. ship. Read: CRANKY. No sleep for us. And he started acting like the little girl on Despicable Me when she grabs onto Gru's leg and won't let go. No, seriously.

Then I discovered some leaks in the roof. No biggie, nothing much I can do but sop up the water until El Capitan gets home. I won't climb onto that roof for nothing short of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow if the rainbow lands smack dab on the middle of our trailer roof.

A couple days ago the furnace started making a grinding noise. And then stopped. Completely. I thought our ship was going to be filled with poisonous gas and blow up. So I turned off the heat supply, moved into a spare bedroom at my uncle's house with First Mate, and had our trailer towed to a fix-it shop. Thank God it's still under warranty.

Hubbins is STILL at climbing school. Until tomorrow he's 9 hours away on the coast, with his little red Honda Civic. And the timing belt just broke in it. I'm not joking. I couldn't make this up if I tried. He's on the phone with me, driving back to the barracks for dinner after climbing power poles all day, and it breaks.

So, I'm securing a babysitter, driving our truck to meet him in the Tri-Cities, where he's getting a ride and a tow from another apprentice, and we'll drag it back here. That car has been a money-pit. He bought it in college, did a little bit of work to it (and by that I mean my dad, the amazing mechanic, because his daughter was madly in love with this handsome baseball player, did work on it) and it ran great until a few years ago, when the engine blew. We replaced the engine, and have less than 20,000 on it, and now the timing belt bent the engine into more figure eights than an anorexic Chinese gymnast. (No offense to Chinese Gymnasts, I'm extremely jealous of your flexibility is all)

So that's where we're at. That's why no posts. This is our life.

Oh! And POTTY TRAINING! Don't even get me STARTED on potty training! Little boy pee STINKS. it STINKS!