My baby's not a baby anymore

This is my darling daughter, Kara. As of Tuesday, June 24, she stopped being an impressionable grade schooler and became one of the high school horde. I'm happy for her, but I'm also sad, that my baby, my Bear as she is known, is growing up, and leaving me behind.

She's so beautiful, inside and out. As a baby, she suffered constantly from ear infections, to the point where she had no real center of balance and didn't really learn to crawl. In fact, she never really moved under her own power until she was about ten months old, then she learned that rolling will get you places. And man, could she roll!

This is her dad. I keep telling him not to slick his hair back, but he doesn't listen.

And me and my baby. Congrats darling! Let's hope we

survive high school without any major blowups, Okay?

Ups and Downs

Wonders of wonders, I have a job! Well...sorta...I've signed up with a temporary agency and been placed in the shipping department of the Makita Tool factory. It's good work, labour intensive. Keeps me busy. But, unfortunately, it drastically cuts back on my crafting time.

Speaking of which, some new sewing projects! First is a tapestry messenger bag, with enough padding that you could safely carry a laptop, a zippered pocket for cords and another pocket for miscellaneous #$!. The other two are GIANT tote bags that I thought would be great for kids sleepover gear. You know, pillow, p.j.s, toothbrush, teddy bear. You could fit them all.

And my knitting, Starting with the first block in my daughter's Avatar blanket. She's going to be eleven at the end of next month and all she asked for (from me. Grandma got a MUCH more expensive gift list, lol) is something Avatar related. So I went on Ravelry and searched, and came up with the Avatar Blanket. But it's crocheted. I like crochet, don't get me wrong! I just prefer knitting. Call my funny. So, I re-charted it for knitting, and I'm off. Now I'm working on the water symbol...

Ignore my peeling floor! Look at my lovely socks! I know, you could go to the dollar store for socks and you've save a fortune, but they just wouldn't feel the same. Handmade socks just feel like love for your feet. And they look amazing! So bright and cheerful. Next I'm going to try intarsia in the round, put a little picture on my socks!

My eldest is modelling my mini-poncho/shoulder cover. Great for the not-quite-summer we're having right now, when the days are HOT but it's chilly in the evening. knit in Lion Brand organic cotton, it's light weight and confortable, and if you want to wear it like a cape, just undo all but one of the pretty wooden buttons!

Now, while I was working yesterday, my darling hubby was out in the big bad scary world that is Toronto and was getting me this...

This is a signed copy of the brand new book by one of my favourite authors, Laurel K. Hamilton. Her Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series (or blood porn, as I sometimes call them, tee hee) are one of the staples of my reading diet. I was so thrilled! This is her first time in Canada and my Jason went out of his way to get that for me. Makes me fall for him all over again!

There they are together. Boy! Does he ever need a haircut! And just so you know, hubby's only 5'8", so think how tiny Laurel must be!

What a girl

Take a good long look at my baby's nose.... She got her nose pierced! Hard to see in this photo, but it actually looks really good on her. It was the one thing she really wanted for her graduation, so her Aunt Manda took her yesterday. Of course, she got herself all over excited and didn't eat before hand, so when this pic was taken, she was coming down from the adrenaline high and was just a little woozy. My poor bear!